WASHINGTON, D.C. — Thousands of people are expected to descend upon the Supreme Court today to pay tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away Friday after a battle with pancreatic cancer at 87.
Even with the court closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic and Washington already consumed with talk of Ginsburg’s replacement, the justice’s former colleagues, family, close friends and the public will have the chance Wednesday and Thursday to pass by the casket of the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Ceremonies began at the Supreme Court at around 9:30 Wednesday morning, when the casket bearing Justice Ginsburg's body arrived.
The casket was brought up the steps of the Court and into the building itself for a private ceremony that was attended by Justice Ginsburg's family and close friends, as well as members of the court.
"To be born into a world that does not see you," Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt said of Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the memorial service, "and despite this, to be able to see beyond the world you are in, to imagine that something can be different—that is the job of a prophet."
"It is the rare prophet who not only imagines a new world, but also makes that new world a reality in her lifetime. This was the brilliance and vision of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg," Rabbi Holtzblatt added.
Rabbi Holtzblatt said Ginsburg's "life’s work" was "to insist that the Constitution deliver on its promise that ‘we the people’ would include all the people.”
Chief Justice John Roberts followed the Rabbi with a tribute to Ginsburg, giving an intimate view of the beloved Justice: “Among the words that best describe Ruth: Tough, brave, a fighter, a winner. But also thoughtful, careful, compassionate, honest.”
The sad occasion is expected brought together the remaining eight justices for the first time since the building was closed in March and they resorted to meetings by telephone.
Ginsburg will lie in repose for two days at the court where she served for 27 years and, before that, argued six cases for gender equality in the 1970s.
Following the private ceremony, her casket will be moved outside the building to the top of the court’s front steps so that public mourners can pay their respects in line with public health guidance for the pandemic.
Since her death Friday evening, people have been leaving flowers, notes, placards and all manner of Ginsburg paraphernalia outside the court in tribute to the woman who became known in her final years as the “Notorious RBG.” Court workers cleared away the items and cleaned the court plaza and sidewalk in advance of Wednesday’s ceremony.
At the conclusion of the ceremonies at the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg's casket will be taken across the street, where she will lie in state at the US Capitol on Friday. Ginsburg will be first woman to do so and only the second Supreme Court justice after William Howard Taft.
Taft had also been president. Rosa Parks, a private citizen as opposed to a government official, is the only woman who has lain in honor at the Capitol.
Ginsburg will be buried beside her husband, Martin, in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery next week. Martin Ginsburg died in 2010. She is survived by a son and a daughter, four grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
Ginsburg’s death from cancer at age 87 has added another layer of tumult to an already chaotic election year. Trump and Senate Republicans are plowing ahead with plans to have a new justice on the bench, perhaps before the Nov. 3 election.
Only Chief Justice Roger Taney, who died in October 1864, died closer to a presidential election. Lincoln waited until December to nominate his replacement, Salmon Chase, who was confirmed the same day.
When Scalia, Ginsburg’s closest friend on the court, died unexpectedly in 2016, Republicans refused to act on President Barack Obama’s high-court nomination of Judge Merrick Garland.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.