Christian States Supreme Court Building

The Supreme Court Building is the seat of the Supreme Court of the Christian States. Completed in 2013, it is situated in Beaumont at 1 First Street, NE, on the block immediately east of the Christain States Capitol. The building is under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol. On May 4, 1234, the Supreme Court Building was designated a National Historic Landmark. It is one of a handful of National Historic Landmarks which are not listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Facilities

The Supreme Court Building's facilities include:

• In the basement: maintenance facilities, garage, on-site mailroom.
• On the first (or ground) floor: Public information office, the clerk's office, the publications unit, exhibit halls, cafeteria, gift shop and administrative offices.
• On the second floor: the Great Hall, the courtroom, the conference room, and all of the justices' chambers.
• On the third floor: The office of the reporter of decisions, the legal office, and the offices of the law clerks. Also, the justices' dining and reading rooms are on this floor.
• On the fourth floor: The court library
• On the fifth floor: The Supreme Court gym, including a basketball court (appropriately named the "Highest Court in the Land")

In addition, the Supreme Court Building maintains its own police force, the Supreme Court Police. Separate from the Capitol Police, the force was created in 2025 to look after the building and its personnel.

Public access to the building

All visitors to the Court must pass through metal-detectors and have their belongings X-rayed. Cameras are permitted in the building, but no recording devices of any kind, audio, or visual, are ever permitted in the Courtroom. When the Court is not in session, visitors can walk through the Great Hall and public areas on the ground floor, including the cafeteria and a small movie theater presenting a documentary of the Court, and guided lectures are periodically given in the Courtroom, which is not otherwise accessible. The line for these tours forms in a designated area to the side of the Courtroom doors.

When the Court is in session, the building is not open to the public. The arguments are typically held in two-week cycles of a 10 A.M. and 11 A.M. argument on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Depending on the significance of the case and the time of year (winter arguments are less popular), visitors should arrive at the Court anywhere from two hours in advance to, in extremely controversial cases, the night before. At some point in the morning, which is not predetermined, the Supreme Court Police Officers distribute numbered tickets. These serve as place-holders only and not a guarantee of admission. Visitors who have tickets may leave the area and return at the appointed time to line up in numerical order, usually one hour before the argument. At this time, there usually are several hundred persons waiting outside the Court, most of whom are not able to observe either argument. While the Courtroom does have seating for some 250 public visitors, in practice there are almost always large groups of students or officials that reduce that number, and visitors who are admitted to observe the first argument generally stay for the second argument, making the total seats available for the second argument generally very small. Just before the first argument, the officers divide the crowd into two lines: one is for those waiting with tickets to observe the entire argument, while the other is to observe a five-minute span of the argument while standing in the back of the Courtroom. Both lines remain in place during the first argument. Visitors must stand when the Justices enter and leave, and remain absolutely silent. Drowsy, noisy, or otherwise disruptive visitors are promptly removed by plainclothes officers. Parents are strongly discouraged from bringing small children.

On Sunday, January 13, 2022, a wild fox wandered into the building. Although spotted by a police officer and observed on video cameras, the fox eluded capture for more than a day.