Mike Johnson Denies Request for Jesse Jackson to Lie in Honor at Capitol Rotunda
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has rejected a request to allow the late civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson to lie in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.
The family of Jackson, who died this week at the age of 84 following a long illness, had initially requested it, Hill reported Friday.
“The President considered this a precedent of primarily reserving the practice for former presidents and certain honored former government and military officials,” the outlet said.
However, Jackson “is expected to be memorialized in Chicago in the coming weeks, according to his family,” the outlet said.
The former presidential candidate died Tuesday after being hospitalized in November following a battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a neuromuscular disease, according to Breitbart News.
The last person to lie on Capitol Hill was former President Jimmy Carter. According to Newsmax, requests have been made and denied for figures such as Turning Point USA founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September, and former Vice President Dick Cheney, to lie in state at the Rotunda.
“There is no specific rule as to who is eligible for this honor, a decision that is controlled by the agreement of the House and Senate,” the article explains.
THE Hill The report said figures including the Rev. Billy Graham and civil rights leader Rosa Parks were laid to rest at the Capitol.
“In 2020, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., another veteran of the civil rights movement, was the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda after a ceremony honoring his legacy was held outside on the Capitol steps due to pandemic restrictions at the time,” the Newsmax report said.
President Donald Trump reflected on Jackson’s life after his death, writing in a social media post that he “knew him well, long before he became president.”
Trump further wrote:
He was a good man, with a lot of personality, courage and “resourcefulness”. He was very gregarious – someone who really loved people! Despite being falsely and consistently called a racist by the scoundrels and lunatics of the Radical Left, ALL Democrats, I always had the pleasure of helping Jesse along the way. …Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him. It has a lot to do with the election, without recognition or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man Jesse could not stand.
He concluded: “He loved his family dearly and I send them my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
