When we entered the Federal Court building last Monday to hear the oral arguments in our case with the DOE, we were met with an impressive figure, presumably representing “Justice.”  Holding the scales of justice in her hand, she is blind-folded to ensure the message of the courts’ neutrality is clear for all to see.   This building, built in 2000 A.D., was the product of the expertise of a technologically advanced society and this statue is the expression of a philosophically enlightened culture.  The belief in the innate goodness of man, and his ability to be above any bias, following only the best results of science, informs this modern testament to man’s self-adulation.

I was immediately reminded of another statue of “Justice,” but from another era and another place, before the accelerating de-Christianization of our culture.  The Bronx Supreme Court building on 161st Street and the Grand Concourse stands guard over “The House that Ruth built” just a few blocks down the hill.  Its massive white limestone walls and imposing columns are impressive landmarks which have housed the halls of justice for almost 80 years.  However, the casual observer may miss a subtle but telltale feature emblematic of our cultural decline during its watch.  Between the portico and the long incline of steps, facing each other across the portal through which all visitors must pass, are two larger than life statues.  On the west is “Justice,” holding a scale balance in her hands.  She is looking straight across at a bearded figure with stone tablets under his arms: Moses.

Unlike the Enlightenment’s anthropocentric ideal of “blind justice,” this view is rooted in the biblical truth that justice must  be informed by the Law of God.  No looking within the mind or heart or experience of humanity to find a basis for equal treatment under the law: reliance must be on the revealed standard of truth which stands apart from and above man for there to be any hope of an approximation of justice.  The myth of an unbiased perspective is rejected for the manifestly obvious truth that all judgments are made from an unproven and unprovable perspective.   Pure neutrality is an illusion that only justifies bias in the name of objectivity.  God’s Word, his perspective, protects man from himself by standing over all humanity, the educated and uneducated alike, and provides a standard independent of man’s ideas and prejudices.