Donald Trump was met with loud jeers and boos as he paid a visit to the coffin of the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Thursday.
Trump, wearing a black face mask and accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, stood near the casket at the Supreme Court amid chants of “vote him out” from mourners.
There were also chants of “honour her wish”, referencing the late justice’s statement that it was her “most fervent wish ... that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
Thousands of people have turned out to pay tribute to Ginsburg since her death at the age of 87 on Friday.
The Trumps are said to have spent 11 minutes at the court before returning to the White House.
Trump and Senate Republicans are moving quickly to select and confirm a replacement for Ginsburg before the presidential election in November.
Her death has raised the stakes for the election, putting key issues like voting rights, healthcare access and reproductive rights at risk, and giving Trump an opportunity to cement a conservative majority on the court for decades.
The president has already installed two Supreme Court justices and has said he would announce his latest pick for the seat on Saturday.
Ginsburg, appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993, was an icon for liberals, especially as the court grew increasingly conservative. Her death has sparked a renewed push by Democrats to get people to the polls in November and an outpouring of campaign donations.
She will be the first woman to lie in state at the US Capitol to allow mourners to pay tribute, as well as the first Jewish person to lie in state at the US Capitol.
A ceremony for Ginsburg will be held on Friday and will be by invitation only, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
As the president’s motorcade left the Supreme Court, there were also chants of “Breonna Taylor” from some mourners, according to an Associated Press reporter traveling with the president.
Protests have taken place in Kentucky in the last 24 hours after it was announced there would be no murder charges for the police officers who shot and killed Taylor, a 26-year-old hospital worker who was killed when officers stormed her home in March.