Evening star., 1937-10-31
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

One of the most historic rooms in the
Capitol is now occupied by Col. Chesley
w. Jurney, sergeant at arms of the Sem
ate-an ante-room of the vacated Su-
preme Court chamber, which is being
restored" to be preserved as museum
and show room, modernized with air.
conditioning. This room directly over
looks the historic east portico where the
Presidents take their oath of Office. In
fact, President Roosevelt waited in this
room while the stage was set for him to
be escorted out to take the oath. Col
Jurney is native Texan, graduate of
Georgetown Law School, and has been
directly connected with Congress for 40
years. He served as private secretary to
some famous members, including Rep
resentative Robert L. Henry, Senator
Charles A. Culbertson and Senator Royal
S. Copeland, and was for six years clerk
to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
X x
The United States Supreme Court met
in this Office, with their backs to fire.
place which is yet there and working,
from 1901 to 1911. When the Govern
ment moved to Washington as it's per-
manent seat. the local authorities real
lied with chagrin that no provision had
been made for housing the third branch
of Government, the Supreme Court.
Hastily this space intended for a COM
mittee room for the Senate, then occu-
pying the chamber which was later
turned over to the court, was prepared.
And in that room one Of the most famous
cases in American jurisprudence-Mar-
h.
ruary "a, 1903, with the opinion written
by Chief Justice John Marshall, which
declared as a collateral issue (for the
first time) the right of the Supreme
Court to declare an act of Congress
unconstitutional.
Among those who sat on the Supreme
Court bench while it occupied this room
were: William Patterson, 1793-1806;
Samuel Chase, 1796-18l1; Bushrod
Washington. 1798-1829; Alfred Moore,
1799-1804 William johnson, 1804-1834;
Brockholst Livingston, 1906 1928;
Thomas Todd, 18O7-1826; Gabriel Duvall,
1811-1836, and Joseph Story, 18l1-1S45.
The room was later used as the office of
the marshal of the court.
1lIc OClldtC HlOFCQ Out VI lliC SiiduiOCi
later occupied for n years by the Su-
preme Court on January 4, 1859. There
will be preserved in this Capitol museum
a picture as it was when the Senate met
there, with a surrounding collonade, and
also, a diagram of how the Senators
were seated. Two Presidents sat in that
chamber as Senators-Franklin Pierce
and James Buchanan, both in the same
Twenty-sixth Congress, 1910. Others Of
note were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster,
John c. Calhoun, who sat side by side
with Jefferson Davis, Stephen Douglas,
S. P. Chase. William H. Seward, Hanni-
bal Hamlin and Lewis Cass. Before
coming to that chamber the Congress of
the Revolution had convened 'fugitively
as the chances of war required" in Phil
adelphia, Baltimore, Lancaster, Annapo-
lis and Yorktown. After the conclusion
of peace and up to the present Govern
ment it met in Princeton, Annapolis,
Trenton and New York.
r. X
The Government moved to the new
Federal City on November IT, 1900, quit
ting the luxury of Philadelphia ito go to
the Indian place with the long name, in
the woods on the Potomac'-which has
since developed into the most beautiful
city in all the world. After the British
burned the Capitol, August "a, 1914, the
Congress was temporarily quartered in
Blodget's Hotel and then in ."the Old
Brick Capitol" erected by public citizens
for that purpose while the Capitol wings
were being rebuilt. The, Senate assem-
bIed for the first time in what was later
the Supreme Court chamber on Decem-
ber 6, 1819-which became the theater
of their deliberations for more than SO
years. There were 81 members OF the
Senate when they moved into the pres
ent Senate chamber for the first session
of the Thirty-fifth Congress. On March
3, 1789 when the Government was or
ganized under the Constitution the Sem
ate was composed Of the representatives
of IL States, containing three millions
of people. On December 6, 1919, when
it met for the first time in what was
later the Supreme Court chamber, 1T
was composed of the representatives of
q States, containing nine millions of
people. When it moved into the present
Senate chamber it was composed Of rep
resentatives of 80 States, containing
more than 28,000,000 people.