U.S. President Barack Obama has started the process to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the White House said Thursday. “The farther to the center or right the president goes, the better his chances [of a hearing and confirmation]”. “What is the original meaning of the Constitution and then you apply it, not recreate it”, he said.
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Scalia, one of the court’s most conservative justices, died suddenly last weekend.
Scalia’s oldest son, Eugene, said on conservative commentator Laura Ingraham’s radio show earlier this week that his father “loved the court” and the court’s work.
The White House said on Friday that Mr Obama has begun consulting with a “wide variety” of individuals regarding his search for a nominee.
The eight remaining members of the court attended the funeral, along with retired Justices John Paul Stevens and David Souter and Vice President Joe Biden.
Scalia’s flag-draped casket was brought to the church Saturday morning, in a short trip from the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill.
Mr Scalia’s death leaves the Supreme Court evenly divided between liberal and conservative justices ahead of crucial cases on abortion, voting rights and immigration.
A large entourage of Scalia family members, including his widow, Maureen, attended the ceremony.
Among those passing through the Great Hall were members of the federal appeals court on which Scalia served before joining the Supreme Court, including two judges mentioned as possible replacements. “This should be someone who, in fact, is a consensus and whereby we can generate enough support to get a person passed”, Biden said.
And in the first Supreme Court case ever involving Obama’s landmark health law, Scalia questioned whether the government could force people to buy broccoli.
Scalia’s funeral is slated to take place Saturday, starting around 11 a.m. EST.
Scalia, appointed to the court by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1986, died at a Texas hunting resort at age 79. The vice president’s security footprint is smaller than the president’s, he added.
After carefully considering the constituent feedback I have received it is clear that Arkansans overwhelmingly want a say in choosing Justice Scalia’s replacement through the presidential election.
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Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during his daily media briefing that Obama has telephoned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Supreme Court police will carry it up the court steps, with former clerks following as honorary pallbearers.
