WASHINGTON—Surrounded by onlookers, former colleagues, and Supreme Court Justices paying respect to the slumbering U.S. Senator, Chuck Grassley (R-IA) accidentally lay in state for a few hours Monday after drifting off in the Capitol rotunda. “Today, we honor a giant of the United States Senate, a devoted father, and a dear personal friend for his great service to this country,” said a tearful Majority Whip John Cornyn in a stirring retrospective about the sleeping Iowa Republican, whose quietly dozing body had been mistakenly draped in a U.S. flag for public viewing just hours after the exhausted 85-year-old senator reportedly yawned and stretched out on the floor for a catnap beneath a frieze of George Washington. “We may salute him today with a procession. We may lower the flags as he lies in repose. But we will never forget what he has sacrificed for our nation. Rest in peace, my friend.” Several hours after the ceremony ended, a dazed Grassley snapped awake in the darkened chamber, pulled several pieces of regalia off himself, and stumbled away in confusion while a member of the Capitol police wasn’t looking.

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