In 1935 Cass Gilbert completed the construction of the United States Supreme Court. Prior to its full construction, the sessions of the court were conducted in the Royal Exchange Building in New York, and the independence and city Hall in Philadelphia when the nations Capitol was in Philadelphia. In 1800 while in the permanent capital in Washington DC, the Supreme Court was located in the capitol building. In 1929, the Chief Justice Howard Taft, who at the same time was the former president, initiated the arrangement for an independent building for the Supreme Court. He had to persuade Congress for this to happen. The US Supreme Court is the highest office in the land. After the verdict in the Supreme Court, there is no other appeal. There are nine Justices and one Associate. The Supreme Court is the judiciary branch of the government. The sitting position in the Supreme Court is according to seniority and rank. The Chief justice, who is the presiding judge always sits in the center followed by the senior associate judge. There is order in the way cases are heard in the Supreme Court. The bench sits on Mondays at about 10 am for preliminaries. The public can assist in hearing cases from 9:30-3:30 daily. When a case has been announced, copies of the ruling are available to the public 30 minutes after. The ground floor has more information for first time visitors and other relevant materials for regular visitors.