Celebrants congregate in the main lobby of the historic Federal Building and Courthouse on Kennedy Plaza in Providence in the culmination of its centennial-year celebration.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

PROVIDENCE — For a time yesterday in federal Courtroom No. 1, U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter sat in the jury box, 90-year-old former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell presided at the defense table and Governor Carcieri took a seat at the prosecutor’s table.

It was no ordinary day in court.

The occasion marked the culmination of a year’s-long centennial celebration for the five-story granite courthouse, which has stood its post on the east end of Kennedy Plaza since 1908.

State and federal judges, politicians, lawyers and members of the public crammed into the courtroom to hear remarks by Chief Justice of the U.S. District Court Mary M. Lisi, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, and Judge Sandra L. Lynch, chief judge of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, who began her law career at the federal courthouse as the first female clerk for the late Chief Justice U.S. District Court Raymond J. Pettine.

Lynch recalled the “independence and ingenuity” of the early Rhode Island colonists, who even before statehood retained the right to enact their own laws. The clash of interpretations between Colonial and crown rules led to Rhode Island having the largest number of legal cases on appeal back in London, Lynch said.

That fact didn’t sit well with English authorities who, Lynch said, thought Rhode Island’s laws “were repugnant to the laws of England.” The difference of opinion “eventually fed the fires that fueled the Revolution.”

Senator Reed used the occasion to pay a tribute to Senator Pell, who maintained an office in the courthouse for much of the 36 years he represented Rhode Island.

“This building, which has served as a forum for generations of Rhode Island’s legal minds to work toward furthering the promises of equality and justice, and which has long been admired for its architectural splendor, in many ways serves as a symbol of Senator Pell’s great service to our state and our nation.”

Justice Souter did not speak at the occasion. Back in February, Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. launched the centennial celebration of the federal courthouse, marking the first time a sitting Supreme Court chief justice had been in Rhode Island on official business in more than two centuries.

tmooney@projo.com