“The president, obviously, believes it’s important for the institution of the presidency to pay his respects to somebody who dedicated three decades of his life to the institution of the Supreme Court”, said Josh Earnest, White House spokesman.
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Obama said he would settle on a nominee within the next several weeks and would “nominate in due time a very well-qualified candidate” to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative fixture on the high court who was found dead on Saturday.
This process will begin as Scalia’s funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
Law clerks and Supreme Court staff watch a private ceremony in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court, where the late justice lies in repose. His “great intellect, dedication and service to the nation, the law and the American Bar Association will be missed”, ABA President Paulette Brown said in a statement, also expressing sympathy to Scalia’s family.
“In recent history, we have not had a Supreme Court vacancy that has spanned two Supreme Court terms”, Earnest said. The eight justices stood in the order they take on the bench, leaving an extra space where Scalia sat, between Roberts and Clarence Thomas. Vice President Joe Biden will represent the Obama administration at the funeral.
With cracks starting to show in Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to ignore any Supreme Court nominee by President Barack Obama, a conservative activist group is about to start spending money to shore up McConnell’s will. His death has set off an unprecedented political battle between the White House and the Republican-controlled Senate over how and when he should be replaced, with the court’s ideological balance at stake.
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.
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With Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s unexpected death on Saturday, the fate of America’s highest court has suddenly become the biggest question of the 2016 election.
