Visitors Who Use Wheelchairs or Other Mobility Devices
An accessible entrance and exit is located along Maryland Avenue on the left side of the building. Limited accessible parking is also available along Maryland Avenue.
A limited number of wheelchairs are available free of charge at your point of entry. Wheelchairs may be obtained from any Supreme Court Police Officer.
Elevators are available on the ground floor and first floor to provide access to all public areas.
Visitors Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
An assistive listening system is available for Court sessions and Courtroom Lectures. A hearing loop (induction loop) is installed in the Courtroom. It transmits sound through an electromagnetic signal that is picked up by most hearing aids and cochlear devices without requiring additional equipment. For visitors who do not have compatible hearing aids, listening devices for use of the loop are available upon request.
For Attending Court: Listening devices for Court sessions may be obtained from a Courtroom attendant as you are being seated.
For Courtroom Lectures: Listening devices may be obtained from the individual delivering the lecture. Please approach them as you are being seated.
American Sign Language interpretation for Courtroom Lectures may be arranged with at least seven business days’ notice. Please email us.
Visitors Who are Blind or Have Low Vision
Large print items available at the Visitor Desk include:
- Visitor Map
- Text from select exhibits
- Information Sheets about Supreme Court history and architectural features of the building
Braille items available at the Visitor Desk include:
- Visitor’s Guide to the Court and Visitor’s Guide to Oral Argument
- Text from select exhibits
- The U.S. Constitution
A tactile map of the ground and first floors and the surrounding Capitol Hill area is located across from the Visitor Desk.
Tactile/Verbal Descriptive Tours of Public Spaces—Visitor Services staff are available to provide a verbal descriptive experience incorporating tactiles, if desired, for up to 90 minutes. For an optimal experience, please provide advance notice by emailing visitorservices@supremecourt.gov.
Visitors with Cognitive or Sensory-Processing Disabilities
While visitation varies and crowds can occur at any time, the months of November, December, January, and February are usually less busy times of year to visit the Supreme Court. From March to June, greater numbers of students and other groups visit the Court and Washington, D.C. in general, which can cause longer queues to enter the building and increased noise levels. Outside of the spring, the months of July and October also tend to have higher visitation. These trends are specific to general visitation and do not necessarily reflect crowd size for attending Court sessions, which can be highly variable.
Pre-Visit Narrative
In advance of visiting the Court, it may be helpful to review Visiting the Court: A Pre-Visit Narrative. Please note: this narrative describes a typical visitor experience when the Court is not in session or after the Court has adjourned for the day and the building has reopened to the public. It does not describe the process of attending Court sessions as a visitor. For information about attending Court sessions, see Courtroom Seating.
Service Dogs
Service dogs trained to assist persons with disabilities are welcome in the Supreme Court. Service dogs must be under the control of their handlers at all times (please see regulations governing the Supreme Court Building and grounds).