The Howard H. Baker Federal Courthouse, nestled between Main Street and Church Street in downtown Knoxville, may not appear inviting on first glance, but it houses more than the courtrooms and intimidating district judges.

Inside its stately walls, the neo-Georgian style building contains court rooms and administrative offices for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Bankruptcy proceedings are heard and criminal and civil cases play out under the watchful eyes of federal judges.

"We deal with discrimination cases, employment cases, contract cases and copyright cases," said Judge Thomas Phillips, the district judge who was appointed by President Bush in 2002. "Though the civil cases are harder to try than the criminal ones, they're also much more interesting."

Court security is strict under the U.S. Marshals Service, but citizens are encouraged to come to the federal courts and observe trials while they are in session.

However, the courts strictly prohibit personal electronic devises. Cell phones, pagers and cameras must be left at the entrances if one wishes to be a spectator of the courtrooms, which means pencil and paper is the primary method of recording trials. Security rules of this nature seem ironic when one learns of the building's history, which dates back to 1991.

The courthouse was built by Whittle Communications to serve as its corporate headquarters, according to Don Ferguson, the executive director of the District Court Historical Society and the court's former chief deputy clerk.

Whittle set out to revolutionize the communications industry in the late 80s through publishing and television programming, including a news channel for kids. By 1995, only four years after its completion, the $56 million building with 150,000 square feet was housing judges instead of Whittle employees.

"Whittle sold this $56 million building for $22 million to the government," Ferguson said. "The most interesting bit about the building was that when we came in there were no clocks and no water fountains."

Apparently, Whittle Communications believed that working without clocks would boost employee morale. Once the federal courts took over the building clocks were put on the walls.

"They had to build court rooms into the building by filling in one side of the courtyard," Ferguson said. "It's considered to be one of the nicest federal courthouses in the country."

A walk through the halls of the building proves it was designed to be lavish. Administrative offices are partitioned by large glass walls instead of dry walls. Spiral staircases and rotundas dot various parts of the building, which serve to expose the hallways to natural light instead of the typical florescent lights used in many federal buildings. Wood paneling covers the walls throughout the courthouse, adding to its stately appearance.

A walk through the courtyard tells of its immaculate upkeep. Flowers and grass fill the yard that also houses a statue called "Lady of Liberty."

Now deceased U.S. District Judge James Jarvis II was a major advocate of the government's purchase of the Whittle Communications building. The courthouse was so important to the judge that he had his ashes sprinkled in the courtyard after his death in June 2007. A bench rests in the yard in the judge's memory.

The building also houses a small museum known as the Historical Suite of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The two-room suite includes artifacts from the court's history. An enthusiastic Ferguson serves as its curator and enjoys telling the stories associated with the priceless items.

The rooms house photos from its previous location inside the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse on Main Street. Other interesting items include a dolly that was used as evidence in a 1970s case involving the hijacking of a truck delivering Jack Daniels Whiskey, a small leather sofa that a lawyer appointed to district judge died on two days before he was to be sworn in and the first courtroom drawing from the 1970s case whose artist is noteworthy.

"Anna Sandhu drew this portrait to be used on television since cameras are not allowed in the courtroom," Ferguson said. "She would later go on to become Anna Sanhu Ray after she married James Earl Ray while he was in prison." Ray was the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr.

Perhaps the most curious object found in the palatial building is contained in a small glass tube under a display case in the suite. There lies the resting place of a single snail darter, the fish that the courthouse's namesake once referred to as the bane of his existence.