Biden says ‘no desire’ to be on Supreme Court

Thousands of mourners paid their respects to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in Washington, D.C. ahead of his funeral on Saturday.

The funeral for Scalia is scheduled for Saturday, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

Bidding farewell to their longtime colleague, the eight remaining Supreme Court justices joined family members, former law clerks and members of the public Friday in paying their respects to Antonin Scalia in a tradition-laden, solemn day at the marble courthouse atop Capitol Hill.

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill planned to attend the Mass, but Obama will not, despite some criticism from Republicans.

Scalia, who passed away last week, will lie in repose in the Supreme Court building.

Scalia’s flag-draped casket rested on a funeral bier that first held President Abraham Lincoln’s casket after his assassination.

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. A 2007 portrait of Scalia by artist Nelson Shanks will be displayed near the casket. In 1988, a Democratic Senate unanimously confirmed Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Anthony Kennedy, even though it was both the final year of Reagan’s term and an election year.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell quickly called for a delay in confirmation of a new Supreme Court justice until after a new president is elected and sworn in.

“If there is one other name, one other judicial name associated with the two principal theories of this book, textualism and originalism, it is Frank Easterbrook”, Scalia said during the interview.

Easterbrook’s decision to uphold Chicago’s handgun ban was reversed by the Supreme Court, with Scalia siding with the majority. She, their nine children and three dozen grandchildren were present.

After the justices and family members filed out, a public viewing began at 10:30 a.m. and was to run until 8 p.m.

Scalia’s former law clerks took turns standing vigil by the casket’s side all day Friday and throughout the night. “As someone who has been watching the news for seven years, I think he’ll choose someone he really wants to see on the court”, predicted Thomas. “This would include information about these individuals’ record, about their professional career and their professional experience, all of which they would bring to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court”.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday found 43 percent of those surveyed said the Senate should vote this year, while 42 percent said they should put off the whole exercise until the next president takes office in January. The court’s ideological balance of power is at stake, and Obama’s nominee could tip it to the left for the first time in decades.