Speaker Johnson Denies Request for Late Reverend Jesse Jackson to Lie in Honor at U.S. Capitol Rotun

[mystery-ak]

Speaker Johnson Denies Request for Late Reverend Jesse Jackson to Lie in Honor at U.S. Capitol Rotunda

Amy Furr 21 Feb 2026

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has denied a request to allow the late civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

The family of Jackson, who died this week at age 84 following a lengthy illness, initially made the request, the Hill reported on Friday.

“The Speaker considered past precedent of mostly reserving the practice for former presidents and select former government officials and military honorees,” the outlet said.

However, Jackson “is expected to be memorialized in Chicago in the coming weeks, according to his family,” the outlet said.

The former presidential candidate passed away Tuesday after being hospitalized in November following a fight with the neuromuscular disease progressive supranuclear palsy, according to Breitbart News.

The last individual to lie in state at the Capitol was former President Jimmy Carter. According to Newsmax, requests were made and denied to have prominent figures such as Turning Point USA founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September, and former Vice President Dick Cheney, lie in state at the Rotunda.

“There is no specific rule about who qualifies for the honor, a decision that is controlled by concurrence from both the House and Senate,” the article explains.

The Hill report said figures including Reverend Billy Graham and civil rights leader Rosa Parks have lain in honor at the Capitol.

“In 2020, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., another veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, was the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda after a ceremony honoring his legacy was held outside on the Capitol steps due to pandemic restrictions at the time,” the Newsmax report stated.

President Donald Trump reflected on Jackson’s life after his passing, writing in a social media post that he “knew him well, long before becoming President.”

Trump further wrote:

    He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and “street smarts.” He was very gregarious – Someone who truly loved people! Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way. … Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him. He had much to do with the Election, without acknowledgment or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jesse could not stand.

He concluded, “He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/02/21/speaker-johnson-denies-request-for-reverend-jesse-jackson-lie-honor-capitol-rotunda/

[Free Vulcan]

As he should. Jesse danced with the Devil in the pale moon light and shouldn't be rewarded with lying in State.

[Smokin Joe]

I had an idea for what I thought might be an appropriate display of the remains, but I will refrain...

[Fishrrman]

Good move, Mr. Johnson.
Doing that took guts.
Now don't go wobbly on us.

[Wingnut]

But, It is black history month. 

[libertybele]

Rightfully so.  He wasn't an elected official, nor past president.  He is not 'entitled' though some may think so.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Rightfully so.  He wasn't an elected official, nor past president. He was a 'civil rights' advocate.

His advocacy was for himself, enriching himself from his Rainbow Coalition and doing a Hunter Biden with out-of-wedlock children.

Might as well let Hunter's body lie in the rotunda if one permits Jackson's there.

[Smokin Joe]

But, It is black history month.

Like I said on another thread, He's history.

What more do you want?

[catfish1957]

Hate playing devil's advocate but our side put a bill on the floor to give Charlie Kirk that honor.....

Didn't happen, but.....

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Hate playing devil's advocate but our side put a bill on the floor to give Charlie Kirk that honor.....

Didn't happen, but.....

I think in Charlie's case he got a much better sendoff with his Remembrance party than what he would have gotten lying at the rotunda.

And the Dems and Satan would have preferred not having that party to be displayed to the world either.

[verga]

Good move, Mr. Johnson.
Doing that took guts.
Now don't go wobbly on us.

Best thing he has done in a while

[verga]

But, It is black history month.

And he is.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Best thing he has done in a while

IMO, this explanation on borders as per the bible is even a better accomplishment than that.

begin at 2:45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7BuRKMjdck&t=215s

[ScottinVA]

The disappointing part about Jackson is that he could’ve been a great force for good.  He was blessed with a great speaking ability and abundant energy, but it seems that sometime in the 1970s, he focused on aggrandizing himself and went from encouraging kids to stay in school to shaking down corporations.  Just like so many others, he became yet another cheap, corrupt race pimp.  A truly unfortunate waste of talent.

[rustynail]

Can't a Federal Judge put an end to this disrespect of a Great Leader in the fight for racial justice?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Can't a Federal Judge put an end to this disrespect of a Great Leader in the fight for racial justice?

yeah a few have taken over Presidential powers.

Why can't they also take over the leader of Congress, too?

A trifecta.

[The_Reader_David]

Quite right.  Jackson was never an important official of the US government, and while he did do some good things in his life, the detour away from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s appeal to classical liberalism (free speech, freedom of religion and free markets -- the ideals of the American Founding) and Christian humanism that the Civil Rights movement took when Jackson took the mantle, rather than letting it pass to Dr. King's widow, did much harm and was part of what laid the groundwork for wokeness.

[roamer_1]

No Christian should ever want to be laid there anyway, so...

[verga]

No Christian should ever want to be laid there anyway, so...

@roamer_1 as far as i am concerned he and the 'Reveeeeerrrrand" Sharpton are Christians in name only.

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1 as far as i am concerned he and the 'Reveeeeerrrrand" Sharpton are Christians in name only.

I wholeheartedly agree. You will know them by their works... 

But it does not change the fact that the rotunda is a pagan apotheosis chamber - to include the washington monument... If you understand what all that is for, you can't unsee it.

[Wingnut]

Have they planted his ass yet? 

[Smokin Joe]

Have they planted his ass yet?

No rush. The weather is cool and the flies aren't out much.

[Timber Rattler]

Flashback:

How a Stray Quote of Jesse Jackson’s Led to a Rupture Between Black and Jewish Voters

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/us/jesse-jackson-1984-presidential-campaign.html

In national political lore, the word — “Hymietown” — still resonates, recalling an infamous incident that ruptured a powerful alliance between Black people and Jews dating back to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson Jr. was in the midst of his 1984 presidential campaign when he had what he thought was an off-the-record conversation with a reporter for the Washington Post, Milton Coleman. On a shoestring budget and with no institutional support from the Democratic Party, Jackson had created a national, multiracial coalition — the Rainbow Coalition, he called it — that was igniting grassroots working-class support across the nation. The New Hampshire primary was only days away.

And then came the Post report. “In private conversations with reporters, Jackson has referred to Jews as ‘Hymie’ and to New York as ‘Hymietown,’” Coleman wrote.

Jackson initially denied having said it either publicly or privately, hoping the scandal would blow over. But it didn’t. “The fallout really did put the campaign in free-fall,” recalls Donna Brazile, the veteran political strategist who worked on Jackson’s 1984 campaign. “Only Rev. could address it, only Rev. knew what was said and not said. Only Rev. could reassure Jewish leaders. Only Rev. could contain the damage.”

And so he tried, issuing his apology at a synagogue in Manchester, N.H., urging his predominantly Jewish audience to join his coalition. But even Jackson — one of the most stirring and persuasive speakers of modern American politics — could not contain the damage.

EXCERPT