The White House announced Wednesday that President Obama will not attend Saturday’s funeral Mass for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; instead, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will pay their respects on Friday when Scalia’s body will lie in repose at the court.
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At the left is a portrait of Mr. Scalia.
Justice Clarence Thomas was slated to read from the Bible at the service, under the blue-domed Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the nation’s largest Catholic church.
The basilica can hold at least 3,500 people, and those seats are expected to be filled with family, friends and dignitaries.
Among those who attended the Mass was Vice President Joe Biden, along with the eight Supreme Court justices.
Under law, the US president is responsible for nominating Supreme Court justices to their lifetime appointments, subject to Senate review and confirmation.
That’s the same platform on which President Abraham Lincoln’s coffin once rested at the Rotunda of the Capitol in 1865.
One might have assumed Rev. Paul Scalia was speaking about his father Justice Antonin Scalia when he began his homily at his father’s funeral Mass. Known as a linchpin of the court’s conservative wing, Scalia was noted for his recognizable – and often colorful – style of writing when he wrote court opinions.
“If there is one other judicial name associated with the two principal theories of this book-textualism and originalism-it is Frank Easterbrook”, Scalia said.
He spoke of his father’s affection for Catholic tradition, and also preached about how that faith played a role in his father’s career as a Supreme Court justice.
EVAN VUCCI/AFP/Getty Images President Obama has vowed to submit a Supreme Court nominee to the Senate who will be “indisputably” qualified.
The U.S. Senate argument perhaps highlights why it took the Tennessee General Assembly more than a year to come up the rules of ratification for state appellate and supreme court nominations.
The watch will continue around the clock until the casket departs for Scalia’s funeral service Saturday morning.
“As Ronald Reagan was to the presidency, so too was Antonin Scalia to the U.S. Supreme Court”, Cruz told CNN after the funeral concluded.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders have said a replacement should not be named until the next president takes office. She even highlighted a former White House economic advisor scolding the President: “Former Obama administration official Steve Rattner tweeted, ‘If we want to reduce partisanship, we can start by honoring great public servants who we disagree with'”.
