The public will be able to pay their respects to the 39th president at the U.S. Capitol until his state funeral Thursday morning.

Members of Congress were among the first who were able to pay their respects at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday as former President Jimmy Carter lies in state.

Nearly 44 years after Jimmy Carter left the nation's capital in humbling defeat, the 39th president returned to Washington for three days of state funeral rites starting Tuesday. Carter’s remains, which had been lying in repose at the Carter Presidential Center since Saturday,