Salute to an American icon
Ginsburg will lie in state for viewing by the public
WASHINGTON — With crowds of admirers swelling outside, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgwas remembered Wednesday at the court by grieving family, colleagues and friends as a prophetforjusticewhopersevered 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 consumedwith talk of Ginsburg's replacement, butchiefjustice John Roberts focused on his longtime colleague.
The bestwords to describe Ginsburg are “tough, brave, a fighter, a winner,“Roberts said, but also “thoughtful, careful, compassionate, honest.”
Thewomanwho late in life became knownin 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 sideof the casket, across from the justices.
With her portrait on display nearby, Ginsburg's flagdraped casket sat in the court's Great Hall for the private service before it was moved outside so the public could honor 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 expectedtopay 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 Thursday until 10 p.m.
Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of Washington, D.C., 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 was a law clerk for Ginsburg.
Outside, somepeoplewaiting to pass by the casket said they had driven through the night. One of those in line, Heather Setzler, a physician's assistant from Raleigh, N.C., said she named her two cats Hillary Ruth and Kiki, in honor of Ginsburg's childhood nickname.
“Therewas just something about her. She was so diminutiveyetturnedouttobesuch a giant,” Setzler said, wearing a face mask adorned with small portraits of Ginsburg.
On Friday, she'll lie in state atthecapitol, thefirstwoman to do so and only the second Supreme Court justice after William Howard Taft, also a former president.
Rosa Parks, a private citizen, is the only woman who has lain in honor at the Capitol.