The Supreme Court forms the judicial and third branch of the US government. It was established in 1787 at the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention and provides the last stop in the disposition of the nation’s legal disputes and issues of constitutionality.

Visitors are permitted to watch the court in session Monday to Wednesday from October through April. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. When court is not in session, public lectures on the Supreme Court are held every hour on the half-hour in the Courtroom.

Groundbreaking cases settled here include Brown v. Board of Education, which abolished racial segregation in schools, and Miranda v. Arizona, which declared crime suspects were entitled to a lawyer before being interrogated. The court is charged to guarantee “Equal Justice Under Law”, the motto emblazoned over the entrance.