The body of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who died Dec. 1, returned to the U.S. Supreme Court for a day of repose on Monday, where her casket was received by throngs of her former clerks and surviving colleagues on the nation's top bench.

In a short ceremony, Justice Sonia Sotomayor paid tribute to O'Connor, who left the court in 2006, three years before Sotomayor's appointment in 2009. With all nine sitting justices in attendance as well as retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, Sotomayor focused on the personal warmth of the nation's first female Supreme Court justice, whom she called her "life role model."