Rehnquist Burial Set for Wednesday
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Chief Justice William Rehnquist's (search) body will lie in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court on Tuesday and Wednesday and he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery (search) following funeral services Wednesday.
The court announced Sunday that the public will be invited to pay its respects from 10:30 a.m. EDT until 10 p.m. on Tuesday and from 10 a.m. until noon on Wednesday.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C., with funeral services open to friends and family. The burial at Arlington will be private.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
In a sensitive ritual, Supreme Court officials and the Military District of Washington coordinated the funeral arrangements with Rehnquist's family.
Timing and other details were in the hands of the family, said Barbara Owens, a spokeswoman for the Army's Joint Force Headquarters National Capitol Region/Military District of Washington.
Rehnquist died Saturday at the age of 80 and the Supreme Court announced the arrangements Sunday evening.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
The bodies of Rehnquist's two immediate predecessors, Warren E. Burger (search) and Earl Warren (search), also are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Burger and Warren lay in repose in the Supreme Court Building before their services.
The casket of the last chief justice to have died, Burger in 1995, was carried up the marble steps of the building, where it was on public view for 12 hours before services at National Presbyterian Church.
President Clinton, the nine members of the Supreme Court and four former justices were among the 800 people who attended.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
As chief justice, Rehnquist is entitled to a state-sponsored official funeral, a ceremony that includes a 19-gun salute, four ruffles and flourishes from drums and bugles, and the last 32 bars of the John Philip Sousa march "Stars and Stripes Forever" among other military honors.
President Bush could have petitioned Congress for a state funeral for Rehnquist, a ceremony that would have allowed the body to lie in state in the Rotunda of the Capitol. Only state funerals include that honor.
The most recent state funeral was accorded President Reagan in 2004. The last official funeral was conducted for Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in 1996.