August 6, 2014

 

 

 We toured the Capitol Building, the Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court today. We took a tunnel from the Capitol Building Visitor Center to the Library of Congress. When we emerged from the tunnel it was truly impressive to see the Library. It is as ornate as any of the historical buildings with frescos and architecture that is rivaled by none.

 As you can see by these photos that you will find no other library in this country that will rival it.

 I couldn't get into the actual library as it is active and like every other library it is very quiet unlike the main halls that is really noisy. So I was unable to get any pictures of it,.

 

 As I said we also visited the Supreme Court. There wasn't much access to the building for visitors but the visit was very informative.

 I was impressed at how the court operates. There are a lot of traditions that are followed that ensure fairness in each case. The reason should be obvious to everyone that these justices are political appointees and subject to much scrutiny by the public for those justices that were not chosen while their political party was in power. As you know justices are appointed to the court by recommendation of the President and approved by the Senate. Once on the court they are there for life. This is why there is so much emphasis by the political parties to gain power as they know that the court is the final arbiter of the law and they would rather have it tilted in their direction of opinion right or wrongly.

 The Justices once appointed can decide which cases will be heard and which one's won't. Once a case is approved to be heard then it is scheduled. The two sides of the case will argue their case either for or against and have only 30 minutes to do so. That seems like that is not enough time to argue it orally except that each of the cases must be argued in writing to the court in a brief to the court before any oral arguments are heard. So most of the arguments for or against are done in writing. The justices then have a question and answer period in which each side is grilled by the justices to prove their side of the argument. In this way the lawyers have another chance sort of argue their cases orally. There is a caveat though, no lawyer may re-argue the oral presentation, meaning they must answer the question with short direct answers. Otherwise they are cut off and told they have already had their 30 minutes of oral argument. Once the case is heard then the justices retire to another room specifically designed for their research. The legal aids and lawyers employed by the court meet with the justices to discover case precedence and laws that may cover the case. After all of this they meet in another room in which only the justices may meet. No one and I mean no one is allowed to enter this room ever other than the justices. They sit around this table and each justice may speak to their opinion of the case but no other justice may speak until all the justices have had at least one time to speak uninterrupted. This way all the justices can speak their opinion without dissent or approval. Then they must vote on the case and the rest is history. It really made me feel better. Too bad Congress and the Senate doesn't work in a similar way, without the political wrangling and blocking others by not allowing debate. That is a real disservice to all of the people.