Paul Scalia told mourners at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception: “God blessed Dad with a deep Catholic faith”.
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Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, are expected to attend, as are retired justices John Paul Stevens and David Souter.
“If there is a political reason, it is because he’s going to be nominating a justice who will want to undo the 30-year legacy of ‘Scaliaism.’ And he doesn’t particularly want a photo-op of those speeches in praise of Scalia”, Krauthammer said.
Scalia’s son Paul – a Catholic priest – led the service and mixed humor and reverence for the conservative icon and father of nine who died unexpectedly last weekend.
Scalia’s son has delivered the homily at a funeral mass for the late Supreme Court justice, who died last week.
“He quickly departed it. As he put it later, ‘Like heck if I’m confessing to you, ‘” the younger Scalia said.
Pallbearers carried Scalia’s coffin up the court’s marble staircase into the building Friday morning as his somber, and in some cases tearful, former colleagues waited along with family members, former law clerks and court staff. They were greeted by Roberts and met a few of Scalia’s family members before spending a moment at the coffin and then at the late justice’s official portrait.
It will be the first time a funeral for a Supreme Court justice has been held at the basilica.
Scalia was buried later Saturday in a private ceremony at an undisclosed location.
Presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, was among those at the service. Scalia’s death left the court with four conservative and four liberal justices. Scalia’s casket was placed upon the same catafalque used for President Abraham Lincoln.
“The president’s team, over the course of this week, has spent a lot of time preparing materials for the president’s review, and I would expect, over the weekend, that the president will begin to dig into the materials that have been prepared for him”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Scheduled to give opening remarks at the Mass was Washington Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl. Leonard Leo, executive director of the conservative Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, read a passage from the Old Testament’s Book of Wisdom. He recalled what would happen to anyone who said “um” at dinner.
Several federal judges who are considered possible replacements for Scalia also were at the Mass, including Judges Sri Srinivasan and Patricia Millett and Chief Judge Merrick Garland, all of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
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McConnell has said the seat should remain vacant until Obama’s successor takes office next January so voters can have a say in the selection when they choose a new president in the November 8 election.
