WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court chair on which Justice Antonin Scalia spent three decades pondering the nation’s weightiest issues was draped in black Tuesday.
Scalia’s body will lie in state Friday in the same courtroom where he debated and ruled on matters that altered US history.
The black bunting was in keeping with Supreme Court custom dating back to the late 1800s.
A black drape also was hung over the courtroom door.
Flags at the Supreme Court were at half-staff, where they will remain for a period of 30 days, following Scalia’s death of an apparent heart attack at age 79 on Saturday.
A private ceremony is scheduled at the high court Friday morning before members of the public are allowed to file in to pay their respects to the nation’s first Italian-American Supreme Court justice.
Scalia’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday morning at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the nation’s largest Catholic church.
Pope Francis visited the church during his DC visit last year.