The blue curtins erected by John Ashcroft to cover the bare breasted 'Spirit of Justice' as well as the 'Majesty of Law' statues have been removed. Ashcroft reportedly spent $8,650 on the curtains.
Nothing beats Ed Meese announcing his Commission on Pornography in front of the statue a few years back:
That statue, IMHO, should be removed and placed in a museum somewhere as it has caused lots of trouble and embarrassment over the years. Since this briefing room shot needs a good backdrop statue, how about some statue on mankind's legal code development; i.e., The Ten Commandments?
You say the Majesty of Law statue should be removed because it's "caused trouble," but you want the currently controversial Ten Commandments statue to replace it?
I would proffer Hammurabi's Code instead. Not sure the 10 Commandments were anything special. Except for the coveting thy neighbor's ass part.
Actually, Chicago, there was an earlier code/law which was likewise ignored... The Book of Genesis: "002:017 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
They were soft on crime in those days though, because well, they did not die on that day, did they. But maybe it was because they did not know it was wrong to eat it until after they ate. And it was believed that execution of the mentally incompetent is wrong. And they were only a few days old as well, and apparently there was a growing worldwide trend to oppose execution of minors at the time. Different times, I suppose.
Or, perhaps more relevant: WOMAN: Well, how did you become King, then? ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake,... [angels sing] ...her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [singing stops] That is why I am your king! DENNIS: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. ARTHUR: Be quiet! DENNIS: Well, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! ARTHUR: Shut up! DENNIS: I mean, if I went 'round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!