From center left, retired Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, Ashley Kavanaugh, the wife of Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Chief Justice John Roberts participates in a ceremony along with family, below, for the late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens as he lies in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, pool)
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WASHINGTON (AP) - 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 before the public was invited to view Stevens' casket at the court and pay their respects.
"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," said Kagan, who called Stevens modest and humble.
In addition to Kagan, five of Stevens' former colleagues were at the court for the ceremony. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor attended along with retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Other justices were unable to attend because of prior commitments, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.
Though he had left the court, Stevens kept an active schedule in retirement and wrote three books. Earlier this month, he joined Ginsburg and Sotomayor in Lisbon for a conference sponsored by the New York University law school, Arberg said. Stevens suffered his stroke July 15, a few days after returning from the trip, and died the next day.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were among those who visited the court to pay their respects. The two were greeted by Roberts and stood briefly before Stevens' flag-draped casket as well as a portrait of Stevens.
Stevens will be buried Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, just over the Potomac River from Washington. 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 . The funeral is private. A graveside ceremony will include Navy pallbearers, 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 himself rejected that characterization, describing 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.
Stevens' casket was brought to the court Monday morning and placed in the court's Great Hall, in front of the courtroom. Supreme Court police officers carried his casket up the court's steps, which were lined with Stevens' former law clerks. Stevens' family members, some of them wearing Stevens' signature neckwear, a bowtie, were also present.
About 100 of Stevens' clerks took turns standing watch over his casket as members of the public filtered by throughout the day. The group of men and women who started their careers working under Stevens includes several judges and lawyers who appear frequently before the Supreme Court.
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Associated Press reporters Mark Sherman and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk past a painting of the late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens after they pay their respects as he lies in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, pool)
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Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the last justice to leave a private ceremony in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019, where the late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens lies in repose. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, pool)
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The casket of late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is carried into the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland pays his respects for the late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens as he lies in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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From left, retired Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, Ashley Kavanaugh, the wife of Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Chief Justice John Roberts watch as the casket of late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is carried into the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, pool)
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FILE - In this May 30, 2012, file photo, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens speaks at a lecture presented by the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Ark. Stevens, the bow-tied, independent-thinking, Republican-nominated justice who unexpectedly emerged as the Supreme Court's leading liberal, died Tuesday, July 16, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after suffering a stroke Monday. He was 99. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)
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President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump pay their respects as the late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens lies in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, pool)
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Visitors are handed a photograph and information as they pay their respects for the late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens as he lies in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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The casket of late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is carried into the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland stops at a painting of the late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens while paying his respects as Stevens lies in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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The casket of late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is carried into the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, as they arrive to view the casket of Justice John Paul Stevens at the Supreme Court, Monday, July 22, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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