Former President Jimmy Carter to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol

WASHINGTON — Former President Jimmy Carter will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon after a memorial service attended by his family, Vice President Kamala Harris, members of Congress and other officials.

Harris, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will deliver eulogies, and several members of Carter’s presidential Cabinet are expected to attend.

In addition, the Carter family has invited Democratic and Republican lawmakers who served in Congress during the Carter administration and Carter’s White House staff to pay their respects. a U.S. military release said.

Supreme Court justices, governors, members of President Joe Biden's Cabinet, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser have also been invited to attend, it said.

Carter's casket will be placed in the Rotunda at about 4:30 p.m. for the service and will be opened up to public viewing from about 7 p.m. ET. to midnight. His body will lie in state through Thursday morning, when there will be a service for him at Washington National Cathedral.

Tuesday's events begin in the morning with the transport of Carter's remains from the Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta to Joint Base Andrews near Washington. From there, Carter and his family will travel in a motorcade to the U.S. Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and the Capitol.

At the Navy Memorial, which Carter authorized in 1980 after it was approved by Congress, the former president's remains will be transferred from a hearse to a horse-drawn caisson for the funeral procession to the Capitol. The procession is designed to mirror Carter's inaugural parade on Jan. 20, 1977, when, instead of riding in the presidential limousine, he and his family walked on foot from the U.S. Capitol to the White House, the military release said.

The White House Historical Association noted, "This was the first time a president walked the pavement of Pennsylvania Avenue after the inauguration ceremony," demonstrating Carter's desire to make the presidency accessible to all citizens.

The public is invited to honor and celebrate Carter's life along the funeral procession route on Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues to the Capitol, his family said.

Once he arrives at the Capitol, honorary pall bearers will carry the late president into the Rotunda, where his casket will lie on the Lincoln Catafalque.

The last president to lie in state at the Capitol was the late President George H.W. Bush in 2018.

Carter died at age 100 on Dec. 29, the longest-living former president. He had been living in hospice care since February 2023 at his home in Plains, Georgia.

Biden is expected to give a eulogy Thursday morning during the service at Washington National Cathedral, and has declared that day a national day of mourning. After the service, Carter's body will be flown back to Plains, Georgia, for an event at Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday school for decades, followed by his burial in a private service.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com