The Supreme Court is resistant to change. “This is the first official color group photograph for which color film was not used,” the notes said, “and the result is the first to combine each of the justices’ individual choices, from several poses, into a single image.” The photo appeared on the court’s website without acknowledgment that it was a composite. It looks like a class photo, but it is a composite. The 2017 official photograph, according to notes to an exhibit at the court, included an innovation. If there were 5-to-4 splits, they have not been reported. “It is not clear when the justices began voting for their preferred pose, but the process goes at least as far back as the Taft court” in the 1920s,Franz Jantzen, one of the court’s photographers, wrote in 2015 in The Journal of Supreme Court History. Until recently, the justices voted on which of those would be the official photograph. “It’s a tradition that all the photographers in town look forward to getting a crack at,” said Doug Mills, a photographer for The New York Times, “because it’s a historical picture no matter what.”Ī Supreme Court photographer also takes pictures. Last month, the justices took their places, in strict order of seniority, and tried to smile for the cameras.Ībout a dozen news photographers were there to document the occasion, supervised by a court official with a stopwatch. It was the latest installment of an awkward and illuminating tradition at the Supreme Court: the group photographs prepared when a new justice joins the court. Breyer appeared to chuckle at a joke he had just recalled. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, recovering from a fall, sat in front of him, grimacing. Kavanaugh stood in the back row, on the far right, beaming.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |