Former President Jimmy Carter is expected to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C.
The Carter Center confirmed in a statement on Monday that it had accepted an invitation from Congress for the country’s 39th president, who died on Sunday, to lie in state from Jan. 7 through Jan. 9, 2025.
“This will allow an opportunity for the American people to pay their respects to President Carter,” the Carter Center said.
As the U.S. military “maintains a guard of honor,” members of the public may pay their respects to Carter, whose life spanned a century, as he lies in repose from 7 p.m. to midnight on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Mourners are also free to view the casket from 7 a.m., Jan. 8 through 7 a.m., Jan. 9.
Carter’s state funeral will take place at the Washington National Cathedral next month. President Joe Biden has declared Jan. 9, when the ceremony will take place, to be a national day of mourning.
The announcement from the Carter Center marks a response to an invitational letter top congressional lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD), sent to the Carter family.
“In recognition of President Carter’s long and distinguished service to the nation, it is our intention to ask the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate to permit his remains lie in state in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol,” the lawmakers wrote.
“With your approval, we will move forward with these arrangements so that the American people have the opportunity to pay their respects to President Carter before he is laid to rest,” they continued.
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After the state funeral in D.C., Carter’s body will be flown to his final resting place in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. He will be buried alongside his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, who died last year.
Only four U.S. presidents have had a state funeral in recent decades: Lyndon Johnson in 1973, Ronald Reagan in 2004, Gerald Ford in 2007, and George H.W. Bush in 2018.