A larger-than-life frieze of the great 18 lawgivers was created and installed in the U.S. Supreme Court in the early 1930s, in remembrance of their contributions to legal history.

All these decades later, the piece of artwork remains, reminding viewers that American laws are not based on one specific legal or religious text. Instead, they are built on millennia of legal history and traditions from around the world.

In 1989, now-retired Supreme Court Justice, John Paul Stevens, wrote that the inclusion of lawgivers from a vast array of religious, secular, and cultural traditions symbolized a respect for justice that transcends a particular creed.

"[A] carving of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, if that is the only adornment on a courtroom wall, conveys an equivocal message, perhaps of respect for Judaism, for religion in general or for law," Stevens wrote, according to the Washington Post.

"The addition of carvings depicting Confucius and Muhammad may honor religion, or particular religions, to an extent that the First Amendment does not tolerate. Placement of secular figures such as Caesar Augustus, William Blackstone, Napoleon Bonaparte and John Mar-hall alongside these three religious leaders, however, signals respect not for great proselytizers but for great lawgivers," he wrote.