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Admin
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 Posted - 07/29/2003 : 9:19:34 PM
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Does anyone know what has become of the 'Spirit of Justice' statue?
The 'Spirit of Justice', in background
She was last seen in the vicinity of the Attorney General John Ashcroft, after which she has been found missing totally from public awareness. Foul play is suspected. Her bold style of dress, while risqué by the United States government's standards, exemplified the true spirit of justice: the natural and unadorned presentation of the truth.
We can begin her search and recovery right here, as a group. First we need to assemble what we know. I can offer my experience searching the Internet for photos of this statue, and I can tell you, she is nearly entirely disappeared, except for a few remaining photos of her last appearance with the Attorney General. It would be a real shame if this proper and dignified presentation of classic nudist sculpture is delegated to the dust garage. Can we, as nudists, let this happen?
Reprinted from the BBC News - Tuesday, 29 January, 2002, 13:37 GMT
Curtains for semi-nude justice statue
No longer will US Attorney General John Ashcroft appear in public with a semi-nude statue towering above him.
No longer will the 'Spirit of Justice' bare her breast ...
The US Justice Department has spent $8,000 on curtains to hide the statue from the cameras.
The female, art-deco "Spirit of Justice" statue, with one breast exposed, is located on the podium in the department's ornate Great Hall where news conferences are often held.
One fully-exposed breast protrudes from her toga garment.
Her male counterpart, the "Majesty of Law", is sculpted with a cloth strategically placed around his waist.
Photographers have gone to great lengths in the past to capture the scantily-clad female statue in the background as the Justice Department's top brass addressed the world's press.
Mr Ashcroft has been photographed speaking in front of her several times since the 11 September attacks.
Hired drapes have previously hung in front of both statues for formal events, such as President George W Bush's visit to name the building after assassinated former attorney-general, Robert Kennedy.
Visual harmony
This was done for "aesthetic" reasons, according to Justice Department spokesman Shane Hix, who said the drapes provided a pleasant background for television cameras.
But on Monday the department announced that it had taken a "cost effective" decision to buy the curtains, which cost around $2,000 to hire.
Enjoy your last look at this famous statue,
the 'Spirit of Justice'
ABC News reported that the decision was taken at the request of the conservative Mr Ashcroft himself.
But Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said Mr Ashcroft knew nothing of the investment.
"He has more important things to worry about than what appears in the pictures," she said.
The drapes are reported to have been hanging since Monday, drawing to a close the sport of photographers who infamously sprawled on the floor to snap the former Attorney General Edwin Meese holding aloft his report on pornography in front of the female statue.
They put the curtain on the wrong one
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calmnude
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Posted - 07/30/2003 : 4:59:45 PM
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this mans sense of human rights was not learned in any civics/history class i ever attended. what next? laws against breast feeding/ the anti-public breast feeding frenzy in this country is also absurd. am cranky today, and savages like ashcroft dont improve my disposition.
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paint4life
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Posted - 07/30/2003 : 9:29:29 PM
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People, unless you know the facts, don't jump to conclusions, don't judge, and don't believe everything you read in the papers.
This picture shows the curtains that have LONG BEFORE AND SINCE been used as a back-drop for televising formal events:
I am amazed that people still believe that Aschroft is some prude who ordered the curtains, when he has specifically stated that he did not. I distinctly remember him saying on a television interview at the time that he did not order the curtains, and he had no problem with the statues or the bare breasts himself, but did have a problem with the immaturity of the press photographers who would jocky for position to sprawl out on the floor to get that one shot they affectionaltely called "the boob in front of the boob." He thought they ought to have better things to do.
It seems that if Ashcroft was that offended by the statues, someone could actually find a quote from him somewhere stating just that, even if he were for some other reason hiding the purchase.
In fact, "the drapes were used not to hide the statues but to "provide a nice background for television cameras" during formal events; that the purchase had been made by a DoJ staffer on her own initiative to save the $2,000 per event cost of renting them; and that the attorney general was not even aware of the situation."
(ref: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/ashcroft.asp
The worst they can say about Ashcost's actual involvement is about his non-involvement: he never asked for the drapes to be removed.
So...?
He has stated that he doesn't care one way or another; that he has more important things to do with his time.
I think we do, too. Let's not perpetuate politcal rumors. Let's stick to the facts.
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Admin
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Posted - 07/31/2003 : 09:59:24 AM
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paint4life, thanks for filling in some needed information!
Do you, or does anyone else know, if they are still on display, or usually covered by the curtains?
And does anyone please have a photograph of this statue, without the Attorney General? I've tried, and haven't been able to locate one.
We're uncovering the truth, and that's exactly why I started this thread.
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nudeisntlewd
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Posted - 02/16/2004 : 12:43:13 PM
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Admin,
Your'e right. It does seem impossible to find a pic without the Attorney General. Even on Google.
Now I'm motivated to make a trip to D.C. on my next journey southward, Just to see if I can get some quality digitals myself. I haven't been to the Capitol since I was in the 7th grade. I've been looking for an excuse to go for decades. If I really do ever get there and succeed in getting photos, I'll be sure to share them with the group.
Randy 
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Admin
Forum Admin
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Posted - 06/28/2005 : 11:45:23 PM
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At last, America's most important nude statues return from obscurity...!
From KFMB.com at 06-25-05 at 2:10PM
Ashcroft Gone, Justice Statues Disrobe
With barely a word about it, workers at the Justice Department Friday removed the blue drapes that have famously covered two scantily clad statues for the past 3 1/2 years.
Spirit of Justice, with her one breast exposed and her arms raised, and the bare-chested male Majesty of Law basked in the late afternoon light of Justice's ceremonial Great Hall.
The drapes, installed in 2002 at a cost of $8,000, allowed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak in the Great Hall without fear of a breast showing up behind him in television or newspaper pictures. They also provoked jokes about and criticism of the deeply religious Ashcroft.
The 12-foot, 6-inch aluminum statues were installed shortly after the building opened in the 1930s.
With a change in leadership at Justice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced the question: Would they stay or would they go?
He regularly deflected the question, saying he had weightier issues before him.
Paul R. Corts, the assistant attorney general for administration, recommended the drapes be removed and Gonzales signed off on it, spokesman Kevin Madden said, while refusing to allow The Associated Press to photograph the statues Friday.
In the past, snagging a photo of the attorney general in front of the statues has been somewhat of a sport for photographers.
When former Attorney General Edwin Meese released a report on pornography in the 1980s, photographers dived to the floor to capture the image of him raising the report in the air, with the partially nude female statue behind him.
The first attorney general to use the blue drapery was Republican Richard Thornburgh, attorney general under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He had the drapery put up only for a few occasions when he was appearing in the Great Hall, rather than permanently installed as it was under Ashcroft.
Most news conferences now are held in a state-of-the-art conference room, although the Great Hall still hosts speeches and other special events.
The 'Spirit of Justice', in background.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a picture without
that guy always standing in front?
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Kevin
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Posted - 02/19/2009 : 1:04:05 PM
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 The 'Spirit of Justice' has appeared on television at long last!
This afternoon I was watching C-SPAN replaying a clip from Wednesday. Our attorney general, Eric Holden, was discussing race relations in the United States. And there she was, both arms raised, on the left of the stage behind Holden. The camera panned back slowly from time to time during the speech in order to show the whole room, and it almost seemed the operator was being careful to keep the camera low until he was panned back sufficiently, in order to keep that single bare breast from interrupting the solemnity of the occasion.
But there she was, unmistakable, in all her glory.
According to wikipedia, "Unlike many representations of Lady Justice, Spirit of Justice wears no blindfold to symbolize blind justice." As an enthusiastic student of national symbolism, I find this to be a hopeful sign.
Is this an indication of this administration's dropping of the bare breast phobia of the last administration? Time will tell.
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Save the 'Spirit of Justice' statue from obscurity
