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How to Tour the Supreme Court

This post covers how to attend a U.S. Supreme Court tour as well as courtroom lectures and oral arguments with tips on how to plan your visit and what you might see.  

• Where is the Supreme Court
• Guided Tours + Exhibits
• Courtroom Lecture
• Attend a Supreme Court Case
• Visit the US Capitol and Library of Congress
• Other Things to Do in DC

HOW TO GET TO THE SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court Building is located at 1 First Street St NE across the street from the US Capitol Building and the Library of Congress.

Use this link for directions to the Supreme Court . 

Or let us take you here on one of our pay-what-you-like  Capitol Hill Tours .

It is a 7 min walk from the Capitol South Station Metro ( Blue , Orange , Silver ). Exit the station and continue north on First Street for two blocks.

It is also about a 15-minute walk from Union Station ( Red ), which has a paid parking garage. 

If you are new to DC's subway system, then read our guide on how to use the DC Metro system .

There are no parking facilities at the building. Street parking is very limited. You can reserve a space at nearby commercial garages through a service called SpotHero .

Supreme Court Hours:

The Supreme Court is open on weekdays 9 am - 3 pm , excluding Federal Holidays. The building is not open on the weekend.

Like most federal buildings, you will be required to enter through security. There are two doors on either side of the main steps on the plaza level to enter the building.  

Prohibited items  include weapons and other dangerous items.

SUPREME COURT TOURS + CURRENT EXHIBITS

The Supreme Court currently does not offer guided tours; visitors are encouraged to tour the building independently ( or on a tour with us !).  

In reality, visitors are limited to only the public portions of the building, which are mostly the exhibits on the ground floor as well as the Main Hall on the 2nd floor.  

There are several opportunities to visit the main courtroom (see below sections on attending a court lecture or to hear a case ).

Once through security, you will be on the ground floor.

Here you will find a 24-minute film that covers the history of the building, with interviews with the Chief Justice as well as Associate and former Justices.

It's on this floor where you will also find the current exhibitions .

• The Supreme Court Building: America's Temple of Justice
• Reading the Law: Legal Education in America
• Sandra Day O'Connor, First Woman on the Supreme Court
• The Power of Image: Charles Evans Hughes in Prints, Photographs, and Drawings
• Capturing Justice: Judicial Portraits by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Supreme Court Building Tours

We are able to offer small group private tours that visit inside the Supreme Court on private versions of our Capitol Hill & Library of Congress Tour!

This 2 hour tour would tour inside the Supreme Court Building, inside the Library of Congress & end with tickets to tour inside the Capitol Building with their professional docents (this tour would be an additional 50 minutes to our 2 hour tour)

Our almost twice-a-day public version of this tour does not guarantee entrance into the Supreme Court (though sometimes we can visit inside based on security and opening). On private tours, we can schedule it to ensure we can go inside the Supreme Court.

Contact us to book a private Capitol Hill tour that enters the Supreme Court!

HOW TO ATTEND A SUPREME COURT LECTURE

Since this is a working federal building, you are limited as to where you can go on your self-guided tour.

The only way to visit the courtroom is by attending a docent lecture or attending a case.

You can read about attending a case below but if you are visiting on a day that the court is not hearing a case, you can still have a seat in the courtroom and listen to the history of the court and the building.

30-minute courtroom lectures are held every half-hour from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.  

Seating is first-come, first-served, so during the busy spring and summer months, expect to get there early to wait in line.

For the most up-to-date information on when lectures are scheduled, visit the lecture calendar .

  HOW TO ATTEND A SUPREME COURT ORAL ARGUMENT

While you can visit the Supreme Court courtroom as a visitor for lectures, cases are also open to the public.

Called Oral Arguments, these are the 1-hour long sessions where each side is allowed 30 minutes to argue before the court.

From the first Monday to October to Mid-April, cases are generally heard on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays at 10 am and at 11 am, with additional afternoon sessions as needed.

There are two ways to attend a Supreme Court case.

You could either secure a seat and witness the entire Oral Arguments, or you can catch a quick 3-minute glimpse of the proceedings. (the 3-minute line is suspended still as of Feb 2024)

These two lines form on the plaza before each case.

For a landmark Supreme Court case, some people will line up days in advance to guarantee a spot. On a non-high-profile day, people arrive around 6 am-7 am.

Normally, only the first 50 are able to get in for the entire session.

Numbered tickets are given out prior to seating to allow you time to go to the restroom, cafeteria, and cloakroom.

If you don't get a seat , you can also do a walk-through where you stay for a few minutes and then move on. You can rotate through as many times as you'd like by getting back in line. (This is not an option as of Feb 2024. We hope it returns soon!)

You can also attend Bench Mondays (Mondays, 10 am, mid-May through June) to hear the court opinions and decisions.

These are about 15 - 30 minutes long, but can also form long lines for high-profile cases.

To see what cases are being argued, visit the Argument Calendar.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

There are 9 Supreme Court Justices in total: 8 associate justices and one Chief Justice.

How do you become a Supreme Court Justice?

There are only two requirements to be a Supreme Court justice. It is not based on age, citizenship, or experience.

You must be nominated by the President and approved by Senate. It is a lifetime appointment that one holds until they retire.

Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court Chief Justice is a position appointed by the President, so it is not relevant to the length of time they serve on the court.

The current Supreme Court Justice is John Roberts.

Who are the current Supreme Court Justices?

• Clarence Thomas (1991)
• John Roberts (2005
• Samuel Alito (2006)
• Sonia Sotomeyer (2009)
• Elena Kagen (2010)
• Neil Gorsuch (2017)
• Brett Cavanaugh (2018)
• Amy Coney Barrett (2020)
• Ketanji Brown Jackson (2022)

VISIT THE U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Why not make a half-day of it and visit both the U.S. Capitol Building as well as the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress?

Both are adjacent to the Supreme Court Building. 

You could also have lunch at the Capitol Visitor Center.  

For more information on visiting and touring both buildings, click on the links below.

• U.S. Capitol Building
• Library of Congress

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US Supreme Court

The us supreme court.

As the highest court in the land, the US Supreme Court is the country’s bastion of justice.

Washington DC Tours » Government Sites » US Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States, often referred to as SCOTUS, is the highest part of the Judiciary Branch of our government. The Judiciary is the third branch of our government and is responsible for deciding important cases. Primarily, SCOTUS determines whether a law or a case is consistent with the Constitution of the United States.

The Building where the court now resides is not the oldest building in DC . Its cornerstone was laid in 1932, which was actually the 143rd year of the Supreme Court’s existence. Although the building itself is not particularly old, its architecture is nonetheless quite detailed and majestic. The style of the architecture is influenced by classical Corinthian architecture. Additionally, the Supreme Court Building contains a number of intricate sculptures, which also attract visitors.

The Court has a lot to offer visitors. The ground floor alone is home to exhibit halls, a cafeteria, and a gift shop. It is even possible for visitors to sit in on oral arguments whenever the court is in session. Seating inside the court is limited and visitors are seated on a first-come, first-seated basis.

Request a Customized Tour to Washington DC for your Group

Capitol Building Useful Links

United States Supreme Court

Interesting Facts

• A fox wandered into the Building on January 13 of 2002. Despite being spotted several times on security cameras, the fox managed to elude capture for more than 24 hours.
• Before the Building was completed in 1935, the Supreme Court was held in the basement of the Capitol building.
• President Taft took the initiative to persuade Congress to give the Court its own building. He had been a Chief Justice before he became president.
• The fifth floor of the Court Building contains a Basketball court, dubbed “The Highest Court in the Land,” because it is on a higher floor than the Supreme Court itself, which convenes on the second floor of the building.

Federal Government Attraction Links

Washington DC Capitol Building – CAPITOL BUILDING

United States Supreme Court – SUPREME COURT

The White House – WHITE HOUSE

National Archives – NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Other Sites

White House Visitors Center

Capitol Hill Visitors Center

Supreme Court of the United States – Additonal Information 

The United States Supreme Court Building is the seat of the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest federal court of the United States . It is located at 1 First Street, NE, in Washington, D.C., between the United States Capitol and the Library of Congress. The building was designed by Cass Gilbert and completed in 1935.

The Supreme Court Building is a large, neoclassical building made of white marble . It is 385 feet long, 304 feet wide, and 285 feet high. The building has a central dome, which is 285 feet high and 100 feet in diameter. The dome is made of copper and is covered in gold leaf.

The Supreme Court Building is open to the public for tours . Tours are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except on federal holidays.

The Supreme Court is normally in session from October to June. The Court hears oral arguments on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. The Court usually releases its decisions on Thursdays and Fridays.

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. The Court has nine justices, who are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The justices serve for life, or until they resign or retire.

The Supreme Court hears cases that involve important legal issues. The Court’s decisions are binding on all lower courts in the United States.

The Supreme Court is an important part of the American system of government . The Court plays a vital role in interpreting the Constitution and ensuring that the laws of the United States are fair and just.

The Supreme Court Building is a beautiful and impressive building . It is a symbol of the American system of government and the rule of law. It is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For additional information abou the SCOTUS, visit this link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

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The Supreme Court and Education: Key Rulings That Impact Schools

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In a term that included cases on some of society’s most divisive issues, the U.S. Supreme Court issued important decisions affecting public education before wrapping up business June 30. Those decisions involved religion and free speech rights, as well as censure of school board members, the scope of remedies available under federal civil rights laws that cover schools, and landmark decisions on gun and abortion rights that will be felt in the nation’s schools.

In addition, Justice Stephen G. Breyer, a champion of student rights in many cases but a voice for administrators in others , announced in January his intent to retire at the end of the term and stepped down after the court’s last opinions. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson , the first Black female member of the court, was sworn in to succeed him when his retirement became effective on the term’s last day.

Here’s a recap of six key decisions that matter to schools and educators:

Religious expression of school employees

The court ruled 6-3 in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that a high school football coach’s post-game prayers at midfield were protected by the First Amendment’s free speech and free exercise of religion clauses. The court said the Constitution neither requires nor permits school districts to suppress such religious expression by employees. The decision leaves open some important questions about the scope of the free-exercise rights of school employees and whether students will have greater protection for their own religious expression in public schools .

State aid to religious schools

The justices decided 6-3 in Carson v. Makin that the state of Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from a state tuition program for towns without public high schools violated the free-exercise clause. The decision has the most significant impact for states such as Maine and Vermont that have sought to exclude religious schools from their distinctive tuition aid programs. The dissent expressed fears that it could lead to state aid for religious-themed charter schools.

Censure of school board members

The court ruled unanimously in Houston Community College System v. Wilson that an education board’s censure of one of its members over his speech did not violate the First Amendment. Although the case involved a community college board, the issue of censure has arisen more recently for K-12 school boards, often on members’ comments on hot-button issues such as COVID policy or LGBTQ rights. The court said that elected members of government bodies are expected to shoulder criticism from the public and their peers, and they may respond to such criticism with speech of their own. The court said it was not ruling on certain concrete sanctions involved in the case, nor was it holding that verbal censures or reprimands could never give rise to a First Amendment claim.

Emotional-distress claims under federal civil rights laws

The justices ruled 6-3 in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller PLLC that damages for emotional distress are not available under key federal civil rights statutes that bar discrimination based on race, sex, and disability, including in K-12 schools. Such claims for emotional distress have been brought against schools under the race-discrimination prohibition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the bar on sex-bias under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The court said those statutes act as a contract between the federal government and federal funding recipients, and those recipients would not expect emotional distress to be a remedy available under such a contract.

Second Amendment gun rights

The court ruled 6-3 in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that the Second Amendment encompasses a right to carry a handgun outside the home for self-defense, a decision that raised concerns among educators and gun-control groups that arose out of mass shootings at schools and elsewhere. The decision did not disturb earlier rulings that declared schools to be among the “sensitive places” where the government may presumably prohibit guns. But the decision did not further define sensitive places.

Abortion rights

The justices ruled 5-4 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overrule the court’s landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade establishing a federal constitutional right to abortion. (The decision was 6-3 to uphold a restrictive Mississippi abortion law.) The decision raises issues for educators and students regarding employee benefits and adolescent health, as well as widespread concerns about implications for the court’s precedents guaranteeing access to contraception and rights to same-sex intimacy and marriage. Meanwhile, the opinions in the case included considerable debate over the majority’s citation of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka , the landmark 1954 ruling on school segregation, in support of its decision to overrule the 49-year-old Roe precedent.

A version of this article appeared in the July 13, 2022 edition of Education Week as The Supreme Court and Education: Key Rulings That Impact Schools

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70 years ago, school integration was a dream many believed could actually happen. It hasn’t

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seventy years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled separating children in schools by race was unconstitutional. On paper, that decision — the fabled Brown v. Board of Education, taught in most every American classroom — still stands.

But for decades, American schools have been re-segregating. The country is more diverse than it ever has been, with students more exposed to classmates from different backgrounds. Still, around 4 out of 10 Black and Hispanic students attend schools where almost every one of their classmates is another student of color.

The intense segregation by race is linked to socioeconomic conditions: Schools where students of color compose more than 90% of the student body are five times more likely to be located in low-income areas. That in turn has resounding academic consequences: Students who attend high-poverty schools, regardless of their family’s finances, have worse educational outcomes.

Efforts to slow or reverse the increasing separation of American schools have stalled. Court cases slowly have chipped away at the dream outlined in the case of Brown v. Board, leaving fewer and fewer tools in the hands of districts to integrate schools by the early 2000s.

The arc of the moral universe, in this case, does not seem to be bending toward justice.

“School integration exists as little more than an idea in America right now, a little more than a memory,” said Derek Black, a law professor at the University of Southern California. “It’s actually an idea that a pretty good majority of Americans think is a good idea. But that’s all.”

MORE THAN JUST DIVERSE SCHOOLS

The dream of Brown was never as simple as diversity. It was about equality, and the opportunity that came with it.

From the beginning, funding and integration have been inseparable.

“Whiter schools and districts have more resources, and that is wrong,” said Ary Amerikaner, a former Obama administration official and the founder of Brown’s Promise. “But it is a reality. And that undermines opportunity for students of color, and it undermines our future democracy.”

We remember Brown v. Board as the end of segregated schools in the United States. But stating values does not, alone, change reality. Though the case was decided in 1954, it was followed by more than a decade of delay and avoidance before school districts began to meaningfully allow Black students to enter white schools.

It took further court rulings, monitoring and enforcement to bring a short-lived era of integration to hundreds of school districts. For the students who took part in those desegregation programs, their life trajectory changed — the more years spent in integrated schools, the better Black children fared on measures like educational attainment, graduation rates, health, and earning potential, with no adverse effects on white children.

For a brief period, it seemed the country recognized the deeper remedies required. “All things being equal, with no history of discrimination, it might well be desirable to assign pupils to schools nearest their homes,” Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote in Swann v. Mecklenburg, a 1971 decision that upheld the use of busing to integrate schools in North Carolina. “But all things are not equal in a system that has been deliberately constructed and maintained to enforce racial segregation.”

But not long after, another series of court decisions would unwind those outcomes. Fifty years ago, in Milliken v. Bradley, the court struck down a plan for integrating Detroit public schools across school district lines. The ruling undermined desegregation efforts in the north and Midwest, where small districts allowed white families to escape integration.

Other decisions followed. In Freeman v. Pitts, the court ruled resegregation from private choice and demographic shifts could not be monitored by the court. More than 200 districts were released from court-monitored desegregation plans. By 2007, when the court ruled in Parents Involved vs. Seattle Public Schools, even voluntary integration plans could no longer consider assigning students on the basis of race.

“If you have the tools taken away from you ... by the Supreme Court, then you really don’t have a whole lot of tools,” said Stephan Blanford, a former Seattle Public Schools board member.

ONE DISTRICT AS A MICROCOSM

The arc of history is clear in the city where the landmark Swann busing case originated.

At its peak, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools was considered such a success at integrating classrooms and closing the gap between Black and white students that educators around the country came to tour the district. Today, more than 20 years after a court ruling overturned busing students on the basis of race, CMS is the most segregated district in North Carolina.

While there are no laws that keep kids siloed by race and income, in so many schools that is the reality.

Charlotte’s sprawling, complex busing plan brought Black and white students into the same schools — and by extension, made white children’s resources available to Black students for the first time. The district’s integration program ended when white families sued after their children did not get their top choice of school placement in a lottery that considered race.

Instead, the district created a school assignment process that said diversity “will be based on the family’s decisions.” It left the families of Mecklenburg County, some of whom have always had better choices than others, on their own. In the first year of the district’s choice program, Black families were more likely to try to use the choice plan to pick an alternative school. They were also more likely to get none of the magnet schools they wanted.

In the decades that followed, the district re-segregated. Years of busing had unwound the segregated makeup of the schools, but the underlying disparities and residential segregation had been left untouched.

Charlotte is a place where the divide between affluence and poverty, and the clear racial lines that mirror it, are so stark that people who live there refer to the city in two parts — the well-off “wedge” and the poorer “crescent.” How could anything other than an explicit consideration of those conditions ever hope to ameliorate them?

Solutions to segregated schools exist in this context, often relying on individual families to make choices that are limited by their circumstances. Magnet schools and inter-district transfers — two common policies that may create great individual opportunities — are limited and will always leave some students behind.

Wherever you look, families are divided in how they view integration. For white and affluent families, it can exist as a noble idea, one filled with self-reflection. But for families of color or poor families — those with less of a safety net — the point of integration often is to place their children somewhere better.

Efforts to integrate schools can take two paths, Stefan Lallinger, executive director of Next100, a public policy think tank, says. They either fight around the margins, creating slightly less segregated spaces, or they address the problem head on, which in many parts of the country would mean tackling boundaries deliberately drawn to separate rich from poor.

HOW TO MOVE FORWARD IN A SYSTEM THAT RESISTS?

Amerikaner and Saba Bireda founded Brown’s Promise on the idea of bridging the divide between funding and integration, leveraging state courts to obtain the tools the Supreme Court has taken away from districts.

Their strategy has some precedence. In Connecticut, a 1989 lawsuit in state court resulted in the creation of an inter-district transfer program, which allows students in Hartford to transfer into suburban schools and magnet programs, breaking up concentrations of poverty and racially isolated schools.

“This country had to be moved to integration,” Bireda said. “And unfortunately, 70 years later, we feel like we still need litigation. We need the push of the courts.”

More recent lawsuits have taken place in New Jersey and in Minnesota. In 2015, Alex Cruz-Guzman became a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging segregation in Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools. Cruz-Guzman immigrated to the United States from Mexico as a teenager. As a parent, he noticed his children’s schools consisted almost entirely of other Latino students. When he tried to place them in more integrated schools, the family faced long waitlists.

The case wound its way through court for nearly a decade, almost reaching a settlement in the legislature before that bill failed to pass.

Cruz-Guzman recalls people asking why he would join a case that likely would not resolve in time to benefit his own children, who struggled with learning English for a time in predominantly Latino schools. To him, the arc of the case is about the kids whose lives could change in the future.

“It’s not only my kids. My grandkids will benefit from it,” he says. “People for generations will benefit.”

How far those legal cases can reach remains to be seen. Actual solutions are imperfect. But integration is something this country has tried before, and while it lasted, by many measures, it worked.

Anniversaries are moments to stop and contemplate. Seventy years after Brown, the work towards achieving its vision remains unfinished. Where there are no perfect, easy answers, what other choice is there besides trying imperfect pathways that bring about an increasingly diverse country somewhere closer to the promise of Brown?

“What’s the alternative?” Bireda said. “We are headed towards a country that is going to be majority people of color. ... We can be a strong multiracial democracy, but we cannot be that if we continue to allow most children in the United States not to go to school with children who are from different backgrounds.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org .

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Visits for schools, colleges and universities

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We offer interactive, educational tours to UK schools, colleges and universities throughout the year. Visits are free of charge and consist of an introductory talk given by one of our Information Officers, time in our educational exhibition area and the opportunity for students to observe some of an appeal hearing (depending on the court schedule and space in the public seating areas).

Tours last approximately 45 minutes and cover the history, role and work of the Supreme Court. The talk can also be tailored to fit specific curriculum areas/learning outcomes.

We are currently offering tours at 10:00, 11:00, 14:00 and 15:00 Monday – Thursday, and at 10:00 on Fridays. To keep everyone safe in our building, there is a strict maximum of 30 per tour, including teachers and group leaders.

To book, please complete the booking form and send it to [email protected] . We will then either confirm your booking or offer an alternative date and time.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or telephone 0207 960 1500/1900.

Virtual tours

We can give a PowerPoint presentation about the creation and work of the Court, showing its place in the separation of powers and in the legal hierarchy.

We also discuss issues such as how Justices should be appointed and the role of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the final court of appeal from many Caribbean countries.

We can then expand into wider discussions around some previous UKSC cases, for example the right to die or the law surrounding joint enterprise. We can include our "Women in Law" feature and a short video from Lady Arden, one of our former Justices. The tour can also include excerpts from our introductory film presented by Stacey Dooley.

These tours can be tailored for students of a wide variety of subjects including Law, Politics or History.

The tours aim to be 45 minutes long and can be given between 10 am – 2 pm Monday to Thursday.

Schools or students must have access to Microsoft Teams, which should be part of the 'Office 365' package or can be downloaded for free.

To book, please complete the virtual tours booking form and send it to [email protected] . We will then either confirm your booking or offer an alternative date and time.

To book a tour or for more information please contact: [email protected]

The tour focuses on the history, role and work of the Supreme Court. Time is also provided for students to visit our educational exhibition area to observe some of an appeal hearing. This depends on the Court schedule and space in the public seating areas.

To help you book, please read the following information:

Opening hours

Monday to Friday 9.30am to 4.30pm

Dates and times for tours

Monday to Thursday 10am, 11am, 2pm or 3pm

Friday 10am

To check if there's an appeal hearing to watch the day of your visit, please visit our court sittings page .

How to book a visit to the Supreme Court

If you are interested in booking a visit for a group from your school, college or university, please complete the Educational visits booking form . Once completed, please send it to enquiries so that we can check availability on your requested date(s).

• Due to staff resources and space limitations, we are unable to conduct educational tours for groups of 10 students or fewer. Our maximum group size is 30
• Our educational tours are aimed at secondary school and above
• Due to high demand we advise that visits are booked at least 10 weeks in advance of your proposed visiting date in order to avoid disappointment
• When considering the date of your visit, you might find it particularly interesting to watch the 'hand down' of judgments, which usually takes place at 9.45am on Wednesday mornings. This will give your students the chance to see summaries of the Court's latest decisions being given by the Supreme Court Justices in person. If you are interested in this opportunity, please make this clear on the booking form

Catering for your visits

Our catering team offers a special deal for visiting groups, with a packed lunch offered for £5.50 per head. This can be arranged directly with our catering team by using the form below, and payment must be made in advance, in a single payment, covering all the students. Lunches ordered in this way can be consumed in our café area or taken out of the building.

Visit prices

Full-time students UK and JCPC educational institutions Free

Visits from overseas education institutions, summer schools and commercial third parties who profit from organising education groups £48 per 25 people

For younger students

In our experience, primary and junior school groups can gain a more helpful understanding of the court system by visiting a local court or inviting a local judge into school.

Of course, younger visitors attending with smaller groups of friends or family are very welcome to visit the building and to spend time looking round the courtrooms unguided. We also have a 'Legal Eagle Trail' for children in the exhibition area which they may find of particular interest.

After your visit

You can leave us feedback by completing the educational visit feedback form and sending it to enquiries .

Useful documents

• Educational visits booking form (DOC)
• Educational visits packed lunches booking form (DOC)
• Educational visits feedback form (DOC)
• Health and Safety Risk Assessment for Visitors to Public Areas and Library (PDF)

MS Supreme Court rules in favor of private schools, allows federal funds for infrastructure

C losing a recent case in which public school advocates went up against private schools, the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled in the favor of private schools, allowing them the use of one-time federal pandemic relief funds.

In the 2022 legislative session, Tate Reeves signed two bills approving the transfer of the federal funds, totaling $10 million. The funds were appropriated expressly to the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools, which serves around 45,000 students in 125 private school across Mississippi.

Senate Bill 2780 and Senate Bill 3064 allotted the funds under the newly created Independent Schools Infrastructure Grant Program. Mississippi private schools could then apply for up to $100,000 of this funding for infrastructure development including water, sewer and broadband development and improvement.

A few months later, in June 2022, Parents for Public Schools, a national organization headquartered in Mississippi, attempted to sue the state over the decision, stating the grant program would give private schools an unfair advantage over Mississippi's public schools.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, Democracy Forward and the Mississippi Center for Justice filed the lawsuit on behalf of PPS. The lawsuit, filed in the Hinds County Chancery Court, asked state officials to block the funds from reaching private schools.

In Oct. 2022, Hinds County Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin ruled in favor of PPS, blocking the funds.

In early Feb. 2024, the Mississippi Supreme Court heard oral arguments from MAIS and PPS.

Justin Matheny from the Mississippi Attorney General's Office and Buck Dougherty from the Liberty Justice Center represented the state and MAIS. Matheny and Dougherty urged the Supreme Court to reverse the Hinds County decision and allow the funds to go through.

Matheny and Dougherty's arguments hinged on the fact that the federal funds were intended specifically for infrastructure development and not education, rendering the PPS's unfair advantage argument invalid.

February arguments: MS Supreme Court listens to arguments over federal funding in private schools. See details

On May 2, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in favor of MAIS. The ruling vacated the block, allowing the funding to reach private schools, and stated that PPS does not have standing to sue the state.

In a press release given the same day as the ruling, Dougherty said the ruling represents a win for educational freedom across the state and the nation.

"We are thrilled with the Court's ruling in favor of Mississippi students at MAIS's private member schools," Dougherty said. "The allegations made by the petitioners against independent schools relied on an unconstitutional and unconscionable Blaine Amendment, historically used to discriminate against racial and religious minorities. The Court was right to set aside that claim and focus on the fact that the money should be used for what the Mississippi Legislature set it aside for: independent schools' infrastructure."

The "Blaine Amendment" refers to a failed amendment to the U.S. Constitution proposed in 1875. The amendment aimed to prevent federal funds from supporting education at schools with religious affiliations.

Today, several state constitutions contain language adjacent to the Blaine Amendment, blocking federal funds from going to any private school, not just those with religious affiliations.

The June PPS lawsuit quotes Section 208 of the Mississippi Constitution, which states no federal funds shall be appropriated "to any school that at the time of receiving such appropriation is not conducted as a free school."

In a press release also given the same day as the ruling, PPS said the ruling is disappointing and disrespectful.

"We are deeply saddened and disappointed that the majority of the Mississippi Supreme Court's justices have allowed lawmakers to disrespect the Mississippi Constitution and the resulting adverse effects to 90% of our state's families with school age children," the press release says. "Elected officials in the Legislature willfully ignored the plain, clear constitutional language that protects Mississippi children and the cornerstone of every Mississippi community— our public schools."

The press release goes on to say the decision in this case implies that Mississippi lawmakers did not take the needs of public school families into account.

"Lawmakers have power and authority, but they also have the great responsibility of balancing competing interests and doing what's best for the greater good," the press release says. "In this case, it's abundantly clear that the greater good consists of almost half a million school age children in Mississippi that the Legislature chose to neglect by intentionally disregarding their responsibility to be caring, supportive and protective stewards."

PPS emphasized their original argument that the Mississippi Constitution forbids the use of federal funding in any capacity within private schools.

"The language in our State Constitution is unambiguous— it forbids sending 'any' funds to private schools. By using the word 'any,' it makes no distinction regarding the source of funds."

Protests on Mississippi campus: Ole Miss students evacuated off campus after pro-Palestine protest escalated

Got a news tip? Contact Mary Boyte at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS Supreme Court rules in favor of private schools, allows federal funds for infrastructure

2 women, 1 man up for open SC Supreme Court seat

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - South Carolina has narrowed search for a new supreme court justice to replace outgoing Justice Donald Beatty.

Public hearings for six candidates were held on Thursday and Friday by the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission, which is tasked with choosing the next justice.

The commission is made up of 10 people. Six of those members are elected representatives from the house and senate. Four of the members are not representatives.

The JMSC has narrowed its search to three candidates: Blake Hewitt, from Conway, Jocelyn Newman, from Columbia, and Letita Verdin, from Greenville.

Chief Justice Beatty ― who has reached the South Carolina Supreme Court’s age limit ― is retiring this year. After his retirement, Justice John Kittridge will become chief and take Beatty’s place.

Currently, the court has no women, and after Beatty’s retirement the court will be made up of all white men.

All eyes are on the decisions being made by the JMSC.

Blake A. Hewitt

According to the S.C. Judicial Branch’s website, Hewitt is currently serving as a judge on the court of appeals. He began his role as a judge in January 2020. Before being elected as a judge, he practiced law for 10 years and has experience in statewide general litigation.

Hewitt clerked for former justice Jean Toal on the South Carolina Supreme Court, according to his profile on the  S.C. Judicial Branch’s website.

When asked what his position is on “judicial activism,”  in 2018, he said:

“A judge’s role is to enforce the law as it has been written by the legislature ― not to make law of the judge’s own design. The role of a judge is a limited one. Judges must have the modest and humility to understand and embrace this principle.”

Hewitt graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of South Carolina School of Law.

He currently lives in Conway.

Jocelyn Newman

Newman, daughter of Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman, went to public school in Columbia and attended college at both Duke University and the University of South Carolina.

According to her biography, she attended law school at Howard University, a private, historically Black research university in Washington, D.C., where she was a Merit Scholar.

She received her law degree in 2004 and was a judicial law clerk for former Circuit Court Judge G. Thomas Cooper Jr.

Afterward, she was an assistant solicitor for the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office, which covers Richland and Kershaw counties. She then started her private practice.

According to her biography, she was elected to the circuit court in 2015, followed in her father’s footsteps and became a judge herself. She is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the S.C. Black Lawyers Association and the S.C. Women Lawyers Association.

She appeared for questioning before the JMSC in 2012 when applying for the at-large Circuit Court seat.

She told the commission in 2012  she was named by  Super Lawyers,  a rating service for lawyers, one of South Carolina’s “Rising Stars.” The majority of her experience has been practicing civil law.

Newman was asked: “What do you feel is the appropriate demeanor for a judge?”

She responded: “I feel the appropriate demeanor for a judge is to remain calm even in the most trying situations; to exude confidence, integrity and impartiality in order to promote confidence in the judicial system.”

Letitia H. Verdin

Verdin graduated from Furman University in 1992 and received her law degree from the University of South Carolina.

After graduating law school, she was an assistant solicitor with the office of the 13th Circuit Solicitor, which covers Greenville and Pickens counties. After working there, she joined the 8th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, which represents Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens and Newberry counties.

She headed the family court unit for juvenile prosecution in both circuits, according to her  biography on the South Carolina Judicial Branch’s website.

In 2000, she joined a Greenville law firm and practiced law privately until 2005, when she returned to the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office to prosecute cases of child abuse, neglect and domestic violence.

She was elected to the Family Court as a resident judge in 2008 and then in 2011 the South Carolina legislature elected her to the Circuit Court.

When answering questions from the JMSC for her judicial appointment,  she included personal information about her life and experience.

“I have been faced with a number of very difficult decisions in these positions, but I have attempted to approach these matters with an open, and hopefully, fair mind ... I have endeavored to deal with matters before me efficiently and justly. I also believe my legal experience, equally divided between civil and criminal law, has given me a broad base of knowledge,”  she said.

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