Scalia remembered for love of God, country, family

Mourners came out in the thousands as bells tolled at the funeral mass for late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia who served the U.S. Supreme Court for almost three decades.

He died at age 79 last weekend at a Texas ranch after almost 30 years on the bench.

Thousands of Scalia’s devoted fans — his expansive family, current and former Supreme Court justices, almost 100 former law clerks and guests, including Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill – filled the medieval-style church for the funeral Mass on a cloudy, breezy, warm winter day.

Reverend Paul Scalia, one of nine sons of the deceased justice, led the mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, as broadcast live on television.

He said his father was “not perfect” and demonstrated it by sometimes forgetting the names of his nine children.

Throughout the service, Scalia spoke more often of his father’s faith and belief in God, Jesus Christ and the Hereafter, and his hope he would be deemed worthy of it. Like the majestic church inhabited by messy construction scaffolding, he said Justice Scalia was a work in progress.

Among those expected to attend to Mass was Vice President Joe Biden, along with the eight Supreme Court justices.

As the nation looks ahead to upcoming Supreme Court decisions without Justice Antonin Scalia’s input, it may see a lot of tie scores.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama did indeed pay their respects Friday.

Republicans and others say the next president, who takes office in January 2017, should submit the nomination to the Congress.

Scalia was to be buried Saturday in a private ceremony attended only by family and close friends.

Justice Scalia attended Xavier High School in NY and Georgetown University, both Jesuit institutions. Reporter: It was hardly the simple parish mass he wanted, but for justice Scalia, a fitting farewell.

During his homily, Scalia’s son recalled how his father reacted once after accidentally standing in his son’s confessional line.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor (R) arrives for the funeral for fellow Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. And we in the news media owe it to the public to make sure candidates for president answer questions about how they will choose new justices. “As he put it later, ‘Like heck if I’m confessing to you.’ The feeling was mutual”.

She said she’ll remember Scalia fondly.

Antonin Scalia’s funeral is being held Saturday.

The younger Scalia also honored his mother, to whom the justice was married for 55 years, as “a woman who could match him at every step and could even hold him accountable”.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas read a biblical passage from the Book of Romans during the service.

Politics aside, the presence of a president is still considered a big deal, the ultimate posthumous tribute in this most status-conscious of cities.

The casket is resting in the court’s Great Hall on the Lincoln Catafalque, the platform on which President Abraham Lincoln’s coffin rested in the Capitol rotunda in 1865.