House Speaker Mike Johnson, R La., has denied a request to allow the late Rev. Jesse Jackson to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda following the civil rights leader’s death at age 84. Jackson’s family initially requested the honor after he died this week following a lengthy illness, according to The Hill.
“The Speaker considered past precedent of mostly reserving the practice for former presidents and select former government officials and military honorees,” the outlet reported. Jackson is expected to be memorialized in Chicago in the coming weeks, according to his family.
The longtime civil rights activist and former presidential candidate died Tuesday after being hospitalized in November as he battled progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurological disorder.
The decision about who lies in state or in honor at the Capitol is made with the concurrence of both the House and Senate leadership.
