Conceived as a comprehensive design, the Bill of Rights Plaza integrates the display of the original 10 Amendments to our Constitution with 10 sculptural stone blossoms linked by a gentle, cascading water-garden and a canopy of deep foliage.  Generous public seating is incorporated into the plaza design to facilitate diverse forms of public participation and discourse. The stylistic division between the Victorian-era Capitol, in all its ornamental glory, and the austere repose of the modern Supreme Court building presents a significant design challenge. The new plaza is a space that must link the disparate architectural periods. For this reason, the Bill of Rights Plaza plan is developed as a transitional space; one that presents the strengths of a decorative genre, as well as, a subtle contemporary style.

The Bill of Rights Plaza also aspires to honor and contribute to the historic grounds by re-establishing a balance within the overall Capitol site plan. Integrated in this plaza plan is an effort to look beyond the immediate adjoining areas, namely at the overall scale and placement of all outlying monuments. The composition and scale of the Bill of Rights Plaza is a response to a disproportion within the landscape. The new plaza is designed to serve as a counterbalance to the largest monument on the grounds, that of the Peace Officers Memorial which is directly opposite the Supreme Court building. By employing a similar scale and tone, a formal Bill of Rights Plaza will bring the north Capitol grounds into broad, compositional harmony.