STEVENS REMEMBERED
WASHINGTON – Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens was remembered as a “brilliant man” with a “deep devotion to the rule of law” during a ceremony Monday at the court where he served for nearly 35 years.
The 99-year-old Stevens died last week after suffering a stroke. Justice Elena Kagan, who replaced Stevens on the court after he retired in 2010, spoke during a brief ceremony, calling Stevens modest and humble.
“He was a brilliant man with extraordinary legal gifts and talents, which he combined with a deep devotion to the rule of law and a deep commitment to equal justice,” Kagan said.
Besides Kagan, five of Stevens’ former colleagues were at the court to pay their respects. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor attended the ceremony, as did retired Justice Anthony Kennedy.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited the court later in the morning. The two were greeted by Roberts and stood briefly before Stevens’ flag-draped casket.
Stevens will be buried Tuesday in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Stevens, who served in the Navy during World War II before going to law school at Northwestern University, will be laid to rest in a section of the cemetery where several justices are also buried. A graveside ceremony will include a bugler playing taps and a rifle salute.
Stevens was nominated to the court by President Gerald Ford in 1975. At first considered a centrist, Stevens came to be seen as a lion of liberalism. But Stevens described himself as “pretty darn conservative.” Stevens’ view was that the court had shifted steadily to the right over the decades he was there, creating the illusion that he was moving leftward.