Mitch McConnell among top Republicans skipping Ruth Bader Ginsburg's memorial service at Capitol

Eulogizing rabbi credits late justice with ‘evening up the rights between women and men’ and ‘changing the course of law’

The Republican leaders of the House and Senate, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are skipping a service at the Capitol for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke briefly during the short service under the Capitol rotunda, expressing her wish that the liberal icon “rest In peace” after a military honor guard slowly and deliberately carried a casket with Ms Ginsburg inside to the platform on which President Abraham Lincoln’s casket once rested.

The military members gently placed the casket on the stand as their footfalls echoed under the high dome.

The senior-most GOP lawmaker who was in attendance was House Minority Whip Steve Scalise.

But a list of notable Democrats paid their respects, including the party’s presidential nominee, Joe Biden and former Second Lady Jill Biden. Before they paused in front of the casket and bowed their heads, Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic VP candidate, did so.

She was in a group that also featured Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Tammy Duckworth.

Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt noted “she could not find a job” because “no firm in New York would hire her because she was a woman.”

Ms Holtzblatt praised the late justice because she “pressed on,” and ended up “evening up the rights between women and men" and “changing the course of law.”

“Even as our hearts are breaking, we must find her strength and move on,” she said. “Now she must be permitted to rest after toiling so hard for all of us.”