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The Israeli and United States Supreme Courts: A Comparative Reflection on Their Symbols, Images, and Functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Barbara A. Perry
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Extract

Judicial architecture and iconography play important roles in the symbolic lives of courts. Political scientists have noted that symbols of justice, judicial objectivity, and neutrality convey to the public “legitimizing messages” about the judiciary. In the United States these legitimizing symbols frequently expressed themselves through the temple-like attributes of courthouses. Modern architects, however, have rejected this classic paradigm and replaced it with dignified, yet open, edifices. The Israeli Supreme Court building, dedicated in 1992, is an outstanding example of such innovative design. Its emblems of legitimacy include historical, religious, and judicial symbolism. Within a comparative framework, this article explores the unique architectural images of Israel's high court and argues that they may help it to survive the fractious Israeli political milieu into which the tribunal has inserted itself.

The symbolism of judicial structures can convey voluminous messages about classic themes in the study of law, history, and politics. Judicial images reflected in court architecture and art may reveal the importance of the rule of law, judicial independence, and judicial power in a political and legal culture. The physical manifestations of a court structure, and how they are transmitted to the public, may also influence media and other public perceptions of tribunals, judges, and their decisions. The architecture of the Israeli Supreme Court building, which opened to rave reviews in 1992, adds two other facets to this mix, namely, religion and historic location.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , Spring 2001 , pp. 317 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 2001

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References

1. This study utilizes the definition of a political symbol developed by political scientist Barbara Hinckley in her study of “the symbolic presidency. ” She denotes a political symbol as an object that “has a range of meaning beyond itself” and that conveys an “emotional, moral, or psychological impact. This larger meaning need not be independently true, but will tap ideas people want to believe in as true” (The Symbolic Presidency: How Presidents Portray Themselves [New York: Routledge, 1990], pp. 4–7).Google Scholar

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66. Professor Asher Arian of Haifa University kindly provided this polling data.

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72. Although the U.S. Constitution did not explicitly grant the power of judicial review to the federal courts, at least Chief Justice John Marshall was expounding a supreme, entrenched constitution, created independently by a constitutive assembly and ratified by the states. In contrast, Israel's “new constitution,” a set of parliamentary-created (albeit “basic”) laws written in lieu of a constitution, has simply been declared to be the fundamental governing document by the Supreme Court. Marshall, 's famous proclamation in Marbury v. Madison (5 U.S. 137 [1803])Google Scholar, that “it is the duty and province of the judicial department to say what the law is” (emphasis added), was bold enough, but President Barak's equivalent paraphrase might be that “it is the duty and province of Israel's Supreme Court to say what is the Constitution.”