Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s flag-draped casket arrived at the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning for a private ceremony, where she was honored by her family, friends and fellow justices as a role model for women.
Passing the steps of the high court that were packed with her law clerks, Supreme Court police officers serving as pallbearers carried her casket into the marble-lined lobby of the court.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. told a small crowd of close confidantes that Justice Ginsburg was a lover of the opera but she found her stage in the courtroom, where she fought for women’s rights and gender equality.
“She became a star on the bench where she sat for 27 years. Her 483 majority, concurring and dissenting opinions will steer the court for decades,” the chief justice said. “Her voice in our court and in our conference room was soft, but when she spoke people listened.”
The two justices sat on the high court together since 2005, and Justice Roberts described her as the embodiment of the American dream.
She was “tough, brave, a fighter, a winner,” he said.
Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of the Adas Israel Congregation in the District began the ceremony by praising Justice Ginsburg’s work for women and saying that she proved that they can reach their career aspirations at any age.
“To be born into a world that does not see you, that does not believe in your potential, that does not give you a path for opportunity or a clear path for education, and despite this to be able to see beyond the world that you are in, to imagine that something can be different — that is the job of a prophet,” she said. “And it is the rare prophet who not only imagines a new world but almost makes that world a reality in her lifetime. This was the brilliance and vision of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”
Justice Ginsburg will lay in repose at the high court through Thursday for the public to pay respects. President Trump is scheduled to go Thursday to honor the late justice.
Justice Ginsburg’s casket then will be taken across First Street to the Capitol, where she will lie in state in National Statuary Hall on Friday for lawmakers to pay their respects.
She will be the first woman to lie in state at the Capitol, an honor reserved for government officials. She also will be second Supreme Court justice given the honor, after William Howard Taft, who became chief justice after serving as president.
She will be buried at Arlington National Ceremony alongside her husband, Martin Ginsburg, who died in 2010. He was a tax lawyer and an Army veteran.
Justice Ginsburg is survived by her two children Jane and James Ginsburg, their spouses, her four grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
More than a dozen Supreme Court justices are buried at Arlington.
Mr. Trump said this week that he will announce his pick to fill her seat Saturday.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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