Editorials & Other Articles
In reply to the discussion: Ginsburg Expected to Lie in Repose at the Supreme Court. [View all]mahatmakanejeeves
(57,446 posts)I walked over from work to the SC the day that Scalia was lying in repose. The line to get in stretched around the corner at First Street and went down East Capitol Street toward Second Street -- and this was in February. The weather is considerably warmer. The line will be even longer.
I didn't get in to see Scalia. I did get in to see John Paul Stevens. That was in July 2020. He wasn't a sitting justice when he died, so it wasn't much of a line to see him.
When I got off the Metro at the Braddock Road Metrorail station on the day that Scalia was in repose, I found a souvenir card for the event lying on the ground where someone had dropped it. I still have the card.
Carrying the casket into the SC is a real spectacle. It will be televised. If you can make it to the SC just to see that, it will be worth the effort. The crowd will be massive.
Fri Feb 19, 2016: Scalia rests in repose on Lincolns catafalque as public farewells begin
Scalia rests in repose on Lincolns catafalque as public farewells begin
By Michael E. Ruane and Robert Barnes February 19 at 10:36 AM
Justice Antonin Scalias casket was delivered to the Supreme Court on Friday morning in a solemn ceremony attended by scores of his former law clerks, his widow, Maureen, his nine children and a Supreme Court that lined up in its new order of seniority.
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The courts Great Hall had been transformed, with potted palms, identical red-and-white flower arrangements from the House of Representatives and Senate and a large portrait of Scalia that had been completed in 2007 and had hung since then at Harvard University, where he attended law school.
All eight of the remaining justices lined up to receive Scalias body, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, now the longest-serving justice, at the right of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Also standing at attention were Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Sonia Sotomayor and a teary-eyed Elena Kagan.
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By 9:15 Friday morning, a line of eight Supreme Court police officers in white shirts and black pants assembled on the steps of the court waiting for Scalias hearse to arrive. A crowd of onlookers stood across the street, under a gray overcast sky and weak sun. ... At 9:19 a.m., 98 former Scalia law clerks filed down the steps and formed a double line leading up the steps to the 16 columns at the front of the court building. Four of them will take 30-minute shifts standing at the corners of the casket until the viewing ends at 8 p.m.
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Due to having a job, I was not able to see this. I'm going to head over that way at lunch to take in the scene. I'll be taking my brand new Kindle Fire tablet with me to take pictures.
The pallbearers had to carry the casket all the way up the front steps. Wow.
Also, it's not warm today. The clerks stood outside without hats or coats in this weather. They're lucky it's not raining. I wonder who's that tall one in the gray suit halfway up the steps.
He knew what was coming:
{Three of the people in the first picture in this article have died.}
In Photos: A Short History Of Official Funerals For Supreme Court Justices
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, from front to back: John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg; walk down the steps of the Supreme Court as they wait for the casket carrying Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist in Sept. 2005.
CHUCK KENNEDY / MCT VIA GETTY IMAGES
Originally published on February 19, 2016 2:24 pm
This morning, the Supreme Court draped a black wool crepe on Justice Antonin Scalia's chair and the bench in front of it.
It's a tradition that dates back to 1873 after the death of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase and for Scalia, its the beginning of a series of highly choreographed tributes. As tradition would have it, on Friday, Scalia's flagged-draped casket will be carried up the court steps and the surviving justices will stand on the steps to receive it.
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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, center, and Antonin Scalia, right, watch as pallbearers carry the casket of Chief Justice William Rehnquest [sic] into the Supreme Court where he will laid in repose in September 2005.
Chuck Kennedy / MCT via Getty Images
That somber tradition dates back decades. Much of it like who carries the casket into the court and how long a body lays in repose is determined by the family. The body of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, for example, was carried into the court in 2005 by his former clerks as well Chief Justice John Roberts, who at the time had been nominated by President George W. Bush for a place on the bench.
The only justice to be granted a state funeral by Congress was William Howard Taft, who served as chief justice from 1921 to 1930, after serving as president from 1909 to 1913. Taft laid in state at the Capital Rotunda.
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