Donald Trump was met with loud booing and chants of “vote him out” as he arrived at the Supreme Court on Thursday morning to pay respects to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Videos from Capitol Hill showed the president wearing a mask and standing alongside the first lady, Melania Trump, at the court, with onlookers shouting and booing.
The late justice was lying in repose at the Supreme Court, with the casket due to be moved on Friday to the US Capitol, where she will lie in state, becoming the first woman to be given the honour.
Flanked by guards and her former law clerks, thousands of people have shown up to pay respects to Justice Ginsburg, who died last Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer. She was 87.
Before she passed, Justice Ginsburg dictated a statement to her granddaughter calling on the president not to fill her vacancy in the nation’s highest court.
“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” the late justice reportedly told her granddaughter Clara Spera.
Mr Trump defied the late justice’s dying wish, revealing the day after her passing that he would soon announce a nominee, as early as this week. His Republican allies in the GOP-led Senate have all but confirmed they will support any nomination he puts forward to fill the vacancy ahead of the presidential election in November.
As he stood facing the late justice’s casket, the sounds of people chanting “vote him out” echoed across the steps of the Supreme Court.
Mr Trump and the first lady paid their respects and left, walking away from the casket as the chants and chorus of boos could still be heard.
