Mourners gathered at the U.S. Capitol Friday morning to honor the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, where she made history as the first woman and Jewish person to lie in state.
Justice Ginsburg was laid on the same catafalque that President Abraham Lincoln did after his assassination in 1865.
Her memorial ceremony was held in National Statuary Hall.
“Nobody in our country did more for women’s equality than Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier on Friday. “Her passing is an incalculable loss for our democracy and for all who sacrifice and strive to build a better future for our children.”
Adas Israel Congregation Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt sang Min HaMetzar, a psalm calling to God from the depths, before delivering her eulogy.
The rabbi recounted how Justice Ginsburg was one of nine women in her class at Harvard Law, before she transferred to Columbia Law School and graduated at the top of her class.
“As a lawyer, she won equality for women and men, not in one swift victory. But brick by brick, case by case. Through meticulous careful lawyering, she changed the course of American law,” she said. “Justice Ginsburg became famous for her dissents. Despair was not an option.”
“We the People must carry on Justice Ginsburg’s legacy. Even as our hearts are breaking,” she added.
Opera singer Denyce Graves, accompanied by pianist Laura Ward, performed two songs at the ceremony.
Bryant Johnson, Justice Ginsburg’s personal trainer, did push-ups as he bid farewell to her casket. The 87-year-old, as part of her popularity not only as a justice but also a pop culture sensation, had a viral workout routine.
There have been 34 men given the honor of lying in state, since the first bestowed on Henry Clay in 1852. Rosa Parks, the civil rights icon, laid in “honor” inside the Rotunda, but Justice Ginsburg is the first woman to lie in state.
The last lawmaker given the honor was the late Rep. John Lewis, another civil rights icon, who died in July. William Howard Taft, who served as chief justice on the nation’s highest court after his time as president, was the last Supreme Court justice to lie in state.
Referred to as “the notorious RBG,” the liberal justice was remembered this week by lawmakers across the political spectrum for her fierce record as a lawyer and jurist. She was the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court.
She joined the ACLU in 1972, where she started the women’s rights project and argued before the Supreme Court in 1973 on behalf of Air Force Lt. Sharron Frontiero, who was demanding a housing allowance and other benefits that at the time were given only to men in the military.
As a justice on the high court, she authored the 1996 United States v. Virginia opinion, which struck down Virginia Military Institute’s all-male admission policy.
The 7-1 decision even won the backing of then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist. It was the late Justice Antonin Scalia, one of Justice Ginsburg’s close friends and fellow opera lover, who dissented from her opinion.
Justice Ginsburg died at the age of 87 last Friday after battling metastatic pancreatic cancer.
She laid in repose for two days this week at the Supreme Court, where mourners lined up and kept a vigil to pay their respects.
She is survived by her two children Jane and James Ginsburg, their spouses, her four grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Her casket departed Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon, as lawmakers lined up and stood vigil on the steps.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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