Curtains for nude statue of justice

By ANDREW BUNCOMBE

WASHINGTON - It is only one breast and it is supposed to be art but for the United States Attorney-General, John Ashcroft, it was apparently one breast too many.

Reports suggested this week that Ashcroft had grown tired of giving briefings at the US Justice Department in front of two naked statues, one known as "Minnie Lou". He has now ordered that tasteful curtains be used to cover the offending feature.

The aluminium Art Deco statues date from the 1930s, when the Great Hall in the Justice Department was built as a grand, two-storey room to be used for department events and ceremonies. The formal entrance, leading up a winding stairway, is adorned with murals depicting great figures in the history of law, including Moses, Hammurabi, and John Marshall, third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The enormous statues are at the opposite end of the hall. The female figure represents the Spirit of Justice and the male is the Majesty of Justice. The male statue wears a strategically draped cloth, and the female statue a toga that reveals one breast.

For Ashcroft, the decision of the sculptor not to choose a more modest piece of clothing, was, in his opinion, something of a boob.

The problem for the conservative Attorney-General relates to the habit of press photographers who go to great lengths to include the breast in any pictures they take at the department.

The most famous dates from when former President Ronald Reagan's Attorney General, Edwin Meese, released the report of his Commission on Pornography. Photographers lay on the floor, flat on their backs, to ensure Minnie Lou was in their shots.

Last November, after announcing a restructuring of the Justice Department to cope with the threat of terrorism, Ashcroft was presented with press pictures showing his serious visage next to the Spirit of Justice's breast. He believed it was a stitch-up by the photographers, who were mocking his views on nudity.

According to a television report, Ashcroft has decided enough is enough and drapes were installed at a cost of more than $US8000 ($18,900). His officials claim it is for "aesthetic purposes" but no one from the Justice Department could comment.

Ashcroft, a member of the Pentecostal church the Assemblies of God, does not dance, drink or gamble and fiercely opposes homosexuality and pornography.

Until recently he was a member of a Capitol Hill group called The Singing Senators, but restricted himself to songs and anthems such as God Bless America and Let the Eagle Soar.

Ashcroft is a former senator for Missouri who lost his seat to a dead man in 2000 after his opponent was killed in a plane crash but still received more votes.

- INDEPENDENT