WASHINGTON • Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will lie in state in the US Capitol's Statuary Hall on Friday, an unusual honour for a Supreme Court justice that has not been bestowed since the death of Mr William Howard Taft - who served as chief justice from 1921 to 1930 after having served as president - and one that has never before been granted to a woman.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the rare distinction on Monday, after describing Justice Ginsburg's death last week as "an incalculable loss for our democracy and for all who sacrifice and strive to build a better future for our children".
The formal ceremony at the Capitol will be open to invited guests only because of the coronavirus pandemic, Ms Pelosi's office said.
Also out of the ordinary, Ms Ginsburg will lie in repose at the Supreme Court for two days - today and tomorrow - and her coffin will be placed under the portico at the top of the building's front steps, a set-up meant to allow for social distancing.
In the past, justices have lain in repose in the Supreme Court's Great Hall for only one day. But for a pioneering advocate of women's rights, who was also a cultural icon and a liberal hero, the extra day was necessary to accommodate the number of people expected to turn out to honour her.
Ms Ginsburg died last Friday, and over the weekend, the sidewalk in front of the court became the scene of an ever-growing vigil. Flowers, handwritten notes, candles and messages written in chalk wrapped around the side of the building, and large crowds gathered to pay their respects.
The White House on Monday said President Donald Trump planned to pay his respects in person at the Supreme Court, as then President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle did in 2016, when Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon, died. The Obamas were criticised, however, for skipping his funeral and sending then Vice-President Joe Biden instead.
The campaign of Mr Biden, now the Democratic presidential nominee, has not said whether he planned to travel to Washington to pay his respects to Justice Ginsburg.
A private ceremony in the court, which will be open only to Ms Ginsburg's family, close friends and members of the court, will take place this morning inside the Great Hall, the court announced on Monday.
A private interment service will be held next week at Arlington National Cemetery, where Justice Ginsburg's husband, Mr Martin Ginsburg, was buried in 2010.
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