Spirit of Justice
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Spirit of Justice is a 12-foot cast aluminum statue, depicting a semi nude woman wearing a toga-type dress with one breast revealed and arms raised. The statue is the work of Paul Jennewein, and was commissioned in 1933 at a cost of $ 7,000 US. It has since stood in US justice department's Great Hall with its counterpart, the Majesty of Law. The entrance to the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington D.C. also features a sculpture group entitled "The Majesty of the Law" and "The Spirit of Justice."
[edit] The statue
Unlike the common image of justice, in the form of justice's eyes being covered by a blindfold, Jennewein's Spirit of Justice does not have a blindfold.
[edit] Spirit of Justice and the Attorneys General
- In 1986, during a news photographing, she (Statue) was seen behind then-attorney general Edwin Meese III as he discussed a report on pornography.
- In 2002, under John Ashcroft, curtains were put up blocking the statue from view during speeches. Justice officials long insisted that the curtains were put up to improve the room's use as a television backdrop and that Ashcroft had nothing to do with it. The incident became public because of an internal e-mails referred to "hiding the statues". Ashcroft's successor, Alberto Gonzales, removed the curtains in June 2005.
