A historic ceremony at the US Capitol to honoring late Justice Ginsburg
The late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was honored in a brief ceremony in the US Capitol as she lies in state there, the first woman and first Jewish person to receive that honor.
Female members of Congress, Democrats as well as Republicans, planned to gather on the Capitol steps to pay their respects after a formal memorial ceremony in National Statuary Hall, where Ginsburg’s coffin was brought on Friday morning.
The honor, which comes a week after her death at the age of 87 due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer, pays tribute to the country’s most distinguished citizens.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi welcomed Ginsburg’s coffin as the Capitol under turmoil as President Donald Trump prepares to announce a conservative nominee to replace the liberal icon weeks before the election.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi briefly spoke before opera singer Denyce Graves, a favorite of Ginsburg, sang in tribute to the late justice.
Henry Clay, the Kentucky lawmaker who served as Speaker of the House and also was a senator, was the first in 1852. Rosa Parks – a private citizen, not a government official – is the only woman who has lain in honor at the Capitol.
Ginsburg has lain in repose for two days at the Supreme Court, where thousands of people paid their respects, including President Trump and first lady Melania Trump on Thursday. Spectators booed and chanted “Vote him out” as the president, who wore a mask, stood silently near Ginsburg’s coffin at the top of the court’s front steps.
Trump plans to announce his nomination on Saturday of a woman to take Ginsburg’s place on the high court, where she served for 27 years and was the leader of the liberal justices.
Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, will be buried next week in Arlington National Cemetery beside her husband, Martin, who died in 2010.
