Curtains for semi-nude justice statue
No longer will the 'Spirit of Justice' bare her breast
No longer will US Attorney General John Ashcroft appear in public with a semi-nude statue towering above him.
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.
Mr Ashcroft 'knew nothing' of the decision
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.
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.
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Justice Dept. Covers Statues
WASHINGTON, Jan 29, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- No longer will the attorney general be photographed in front of two partially nude statues in the Great Hall of the Department of Justice.
The department spent $8,000 on blue drapes that hide the two giant, aluminum art deco statues, said spokesman Shane Hix. For aesthetic reasons, he said, the drapes were occasionally hung in front of the statues before formal events. The department used to rent the drapes, but has now purchased them and left them hanging.
The drapes provide a nice background for television cameras, Hix said.
ABC News reported that Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered the statues covered because he didn't like being photographed in front of them.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Ashcroft has been photographed several times in front of the female statue that represents the Spirit of Justice. The 10- to 12-foot statue has its arms raised and a toga draped over its body, but a single breast is completely exposed.
The other statue, of a man with a cloth covering his midsection, is called the Majesty of Law.
Both statues were installed in the 1930s when the building was finished, according to the Justice Department.
Hix said the Justice Department bought the drapes to avoid having to rent them every time the agency had a formal event. The drapes cost about $2,000 to rent.
He also said Ashcroft was not involved in the decision.
"The attorney general was not even aware of the situation," he said. "Obviously, he has more important things to do."
The Great Hall is an ornate, two-story room that the department uses for ceremonies and special speeches.
In the past, snagging a photo of the attorney general in front of the statues has been something 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.
By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON
Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press