Ginsburg remembered at court as U.S. icon and a prophet for justice
Thousands expected to pay respects as casket is placed in public view
WASHINGTON — With crowds of admirers swelling outside, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was remembered Wednesday at the court by grieving family, colleagues and friends as a prophet for justice who persevered against long odds to become an American icon.
The court’s eight justices, masked along with everyone else because of the coronavirus pandemic, gathered for the first time in more than six months for the ceremony to mark Ginsburg’s death from cancer last week at age 87 after 27 years on the court.
Washington already is consumed with talk of Ginsburg’s replacement, but Chief Justice John Roberts focused on his longtime colleague.
The best words to describe Ginsburg are “tough, brave, a fighter, a winner,” Roberts said, but also “thoughtful, careful, compassionate, honest.”
The woman who late in life became known in admiration as the Notorious RBG “wanted to be an opera virtuoso, but became a rock star instead,” Roberts said.
Ginsburg’s two children, Jane and James, and other family members sat on one side of the casket, across from the justices.
With her portrait on display nearby, Ginsburg’s flag-draped casket sat in the court’s Great Hall for the private service before it was moved outside so the public could honour her Wednesday and Thursday.
Health precautions because of the pandemic led the court to limit the number of people inside the building, which has been closed to the public since March.
Thousands of people were expected to pay their respects to the women’s rights champion and leader of the court’s liberal bloc.
Her casket, carried inside past her former law clerks who lined the courthouse steps, is to be on public view until 10 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday.
The members of the court were arrayed in their seats in order of seniority, now changed by Ginsburg’s death so that Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer flanked Roberts. Breyer took the spot Ginsburg held when the court last gathered for a justice’s memorial, in 2019 following the death of John Paul Stevens.
Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of Washington compared Ginsburg
to a prophet who imagined a world of greater equality and then worked to make it happen.
“This was Justice Ginsburg’s life’s work. To insist that the constitution deliver on its promise, that we the people would include all the people. She carried out that work in every chapter of her life,” said Holtzblatt, whose husband, Ari, once worked as a law clerk to Ginsburg.
Outside, some people waiting to pass by the casket said they had driven through the night. One of those in line, Heather Setzler, a physician assistant from Raleigh, N.C., said she named her two cats Hillary Ruth and Kiki, in honour of Ginsburg’s childhood nickname.
“There was just something about her. She was so diminutive yet turned out to be such a giant,” Setzler said, wearing a face mask adorned with small portraits of Ginsburg.
Rachel Linderman and Rychelle Weseman of Olean, N.Y., travelled to the nation’s capital because they said they wanted to be counted among Ginsburg’s followers and demonstrate how important her legacy is to Americans.
They said they were buoyed as they waited in line to be surrounded by people who felt the same way.
“I liked that I was with likeminded people,” Linderman said. “I feel energized.”
“Where we live, we’re usually in the minority,” Weseman said.
Since Ginsburg’s death Friday evening, people have been leaving flowers, notes, placards and all manner of Ginsburg paraphernalia outside the court in tribute.
Court workers cleared away the items and cleaned the court plaza and sidewalk in advance of Wednesday’s ceremony.