Judiciary and the Arts is a project of the Justice for All: Courts and the Community initiative with the Justice Resource Center and the New York City Department of Education Office of Arts and Special Projects. The Matisse Foundation has provided support to the Justice Resource Center for this project.
The goals of the project are through the visual arts, to introduce students to the organization and functions of the federal judiciary, and to encourage students to learn about the historic and present-day role of the federal courts in the development of the law in the United States.
Students who participated in the 2021 Judiciary and The Arts Program prepared a visual representation of one of the three subjects listed below:
- Create an illustration of the Oath of Office. Every federal judge recites this oath, affirming that they will perform all their judicial duties under the Constitution and the laws of the United States:
- The Equal Protection Clause. A few of these landmark decisions are:
- Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954): public school segregation based on race violates the Equal Protection Clause;
- Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967): a prohibition against interracial marriage violated the Equal Protection Clause;
- Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 (1971): gender discrimination violates the Equal Protection Clause
- Plyer v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982): denying public education to children who were not “legally admitted” to the United States violates the Equal Protection Clause;
- Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015): denial of the right to marriage for same-sex couples violates the Equal Protection Clause.
- A courthouse or courtroom of the future. The design of the courthouse or courtroom should convey at least one aspect of the judiciary’s constitutional role.
See, e.g., the Thurgood Marshall courthouse http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/photos/slideshow.html#9
The Equal Protection Clause and our Modern Imagination: – City College Academy of the Arts
Courthouse of The Future: Post-Apocalyptic Alien Invasion
City College Academy of the Arts
Equal Protection Clause : Bronx International High School, Bronx
Exploring the Equal Opportunity Clause through Supreme Court Cases: Millennium Art Academy HS, Bronx
Commemorating the Equal Protection Clause: Marie Curie
Illustrating the Judiciary Susan E. Wagner High School
The Equal Protection Clause: High School of Excellence and Innovation
Federal Oath of Office: East West School of International Studies
Equal Protection Clause Comics: High School of Art and Design
Exploring the Equal Protection Clause through Film: High School of Art and Design
Architectural Courthouse and Courtroom Renderings: Jean Nuzzi Intermediate School
Judiciary and the Arts 2021
Frank Sinatra High School of Art
Students who participated in the 2021 Judiciary and The Arts Program prepared a visual representation of one of the four subjects listed below:
- The life and pre-judicial career of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was born in Brooklyn and was the Supreme Court justice for the Second Circuit.
- The life and career of Justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom the Second Circuit Court of Appeals Courthouse in Manhattan is named. 2021 is the 20th anniversary of the naming of the courthouse at 40 Foley Square in honor of Justice Marshall
- One of four famous trials for which scripts for reenactments of the trials have been created:
– Constance Baker Motley, James Meredith, and The University of Mississippi;
– Susan Russo v. Central School District No. 1;
– The Heart Mountain Draft Resisters;
– The Amistad.
- A courthouse or courtroom of the future.
Bronx International High School
Millennium Art Academy
High School of Art and Design
East- West School Of International Studies
High School of Art and Design Courthouse Presentations: