By Chris Stadelman
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - As the Ohio Supreme Court dedicated its new building on Saturday, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist drew on the parallel paths Ohio and the United States took to getting a building exclusively for the judicial branch.

Rehnquist noted that Gov. Bob Taft is the great-grandson of William Howard Taft, a former president and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court credited with securing new quarters for the nation's high court.

"At about the same time our court building was being constructed in Washington, this handsome building was going up here in Columbus," he said. "Seventy years later, this building has been beautifully refurbished for the Ohio Supreme Court."

Rehnquist, 79, delivered his 15-minute speech during the 90-minute dedication ceremony. The history buff drew on Ohio's past, providing biographies of each of three Ohioans who served as chief justice of the nation's highest court.

No state has had more, and only New York boasts as many, he said.

Taft, chief justice from 1921 to 1930, persuaded Congress in 1929 to authorize a building exclusively for the Supreme Court.

It previously had operated out of a half-dozen locations in the Capitol building, including the basement. Taft died shortly after leaving the court in 1930 and didn't get to see the building's completion in 1935.

Finally, its own space

Construction on what is now the Ohio court's home began in 1931, while the recently completed $85.3 million renovation started three years ago. It's the first time in the court's 202-year history it hasn't had to share space.

Bronze plaques of Taft and the two other former chief justices, Salmon P. Chase and Morrison R. Waite, are among those lining the marble halls outside the first-floor courtroom.

Inside the chamber, five murals cover the ornate ceiling, one to represent each of the states carved out of the Northwest Territory.

Several speakers noted that at one point the building was more likely to be razed than refurbished.

"In a society so eager to discard, many are responsible for conserving," said Thomas Moyer, Ohio's chief justice and a driving force behind the project.

Nearly 2,000 people worked at the site during the past three years, while hundreds more helped restore original pieces for reinstallation.

Josiah Coates, 19, was one of them. His father, Mike Coates of Forum Manufacturing Inc. in Milford Center, was the carpenter foreman on the job and spoke at Saturday's ceremony.

"It's pretty amazing how all aspects of the job come together," the younger Coates said afterward. Coates said he'd already seen some original woodwork he restained in the desks of the building's 11th-floor law library.