[1][2][3] Designed in the neoclassical style, the proposal for a separate building for the Supreme Court was suggested in 1912 by President William Howard Taft, who became Chief Justice in 1921.

[3] Physical construction began in 1932 and was officially completed in 1935 under the guidance of Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, Taft's successor.

[4] Before the establishment of Washington, D.C., as the national capital, the United States government was briefly based in New York City, where the Supreme Court met in the Merchants Exchange Building.

After becoming Chief Justice in 1921[3] he argued successfully for the Court to have its own headquarters to distance itself from Congress as an independent branch of government.

[8] From 1860 to 1935, the Supreme Court justices were designated to conduct their work within the cramped space of the Old Senate Chamber[9] alongside other federal government employees.

[11] Through the rigorous lobbying efforts of Chief Justice Taft, he was able to secure the funding needed from Congress for a Supreme Court building in 1929.

Taft envisioned the judicial branch of government to embody a persona of independence, and therefore saw the Supreme Court building as a means of establishing his vision.

[11] The Supreme Court building would not have been completed without the further commitment of Charles Evans Hughes, who succeeded Taft as Chief Justice in 1930.

Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, nominated by Taft in 1910, and later succeeded by him in 1921, was part of the initial resistance to the idea of a Supreme Court building.

Gilbert was a long-time friend of William Howard Taft and was employed for several years by McKim, Mead, and White, then regarded as the largest architectural firm in the world.

[13] Chief Justice Taft personally appointed Gilbert for the architectural planning and construction of the Supreme Court building.

The cornerstone was laid on October 13, 1932, and construction was completed in 1935 for slightly under the $9,740,000 budget authorized by Congress ($169 million in 2023 dollars).

[18] "The building was designed on a scale in keeping with the importance and dignity of the Court and the Judiciary as a coequal, independent branch of the United States Government, and as a symbol of 'the national ideal of justice in the highest sphere of activity.

[20] For the Courtroom's 24 columns, "Gilbert felt that only the ivory buff and golden marble from the Montarrenti quarries near Siena, Italy" would suffice.

In May 1933, he petitioned the Italian Prime Minister, Benito Mussolini, "to ask his assistance in guaranteeing that the Siena quarries sent nothing inferior to the official sample marble".

The New Yorker columnist Howard Brubaker noted at the time of its opening that it had "fine big windows to throw the New Deal out of".

On November 28, 2005, a basketball-sized chunk of marble weighing approximately 172 lb (78 kg) fell four stories from the west façade onto the steps of the Court; it had previously been part of the parapet above the word "under" in the "Equal Justice Under Law" engraving immediately above the figure of a Roman centurion carrying fasces.

[22] The Supreme Court Building includes: Originally built as a storage area, the gym was converted for its current function in the late 1940s, although who is responsible for the transformation is not known.

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.

[31] Since recording devices have been banned inside the courtroom, the fastest way for decisions of landmark cases to reach the press is through the Running of the Interns.