Justice Scalia Named Ideal Successor in 2012 Interview

Sitting Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, speaking at Yale University Wednesday, did not comment on Scalia’s replacement, but did open the event with a call for a moment of silence. “It is. If I had to pick somebody to replace me on the supreme court it would be Frank”.

The Obama administration will be represented at the funeral by Vice President Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden.

His casket arrived early Thursday, carried inside by Supreme Court police officers, as almost 100 of Justice Scalia’s former law clerks stood on the marble steps, acting as honorary pallbearers.

Besides all the conspiracy theories about Scalia’s death, I am baffled by the speed at which the Republican leadership started condemning Obama for even letting the word “nominate” enter his brain.

Sure enough, in Article III, Section 4, the Founding Fathers wrote, “the President may not nominate a candidate for the Supreme Court if the vacancy shall occur in the year leading up to an election, when the candidate be a ‘lame duck.’ In thy cases, the voters shall select their nominee with their pick of the next president, who will then do the nominating, and the Senate will be doing the advising and consenting”.

Scalia’s clerks also took 30-minute turns standing near the casket in groups of four, and planned to do so through the night until his body is taken from the court for his funeral on Saturday. At one point, the wait topped 3½ hours, mainly because the public was not allowed in for a time because of the Obamas’ visit. They changed their bus tickets in order to pay their respects.

Throughout the day, a line of people trickled inside to say farewell to Scalia.

Asked directly whether he would do the job, Biden said he was not interested. “I don’t think there’s another one, though”.

Obama will not attend Scalia’s funeral on Saturday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, a decision that provoked criticism from some conservatives.

His sudden death complicated an already tumultuous election year.

Yet others Republicans were holding firm. Sen.

Scalia was found dead Saturday in his room at a remote Texas hunting resort.

A day after signs of splintering emerged within the GOP, Republicans mounted a display of unity in the form of a joint op-ed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa. The 79-year-old jurist was appointed to the court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.