Justice

This plaster panel is one of two that are installed at either end of the building's sixth-floor corridor. These panels are the full-scale models for a pair of never-completed granite reliefs that artist Leo Friedlander designed in 1950 to flank the entrance of the Estes Kefauver Federal Building & Courthouse Annex at 801 Broadway in Nashville. The plaster panels were rediscovered in 1989, professionally restored in 2002, and installed in the new U.S. Courthouse in 2021.

In this panel, the personification of Justice presides over an idyllic landscape. Another, smaller female figure leans against a symbolic sword of justice, while a male figure looks away and departs. Justice’s closed eyes and upturned palms represent judicial impartiality. The dome of the U.S. Capitol, where federal laws are passed, is visible in the background. The panel titled State Pride illustrates important industries of Tennessee.

Friedlander was an accomplished artist. He studied at fine arts academies in Brussels, Paris, and Rome before becoming a professor of sculpture at New York University. Friedlander completed many public commissions, including reliefs representing Radio and Television (1939) at Rockefeller Center in New York City and two colossal bronze sculptures titled Valor and Sacrifice (1951) for Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C.