Obama calls top senators on Supreme Court vacancy

Scalia, appointed to the court by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1986, died at a Texas hunting resort at age 79.

“Justice Scalia is my hero in the Supreme Court”, Covey said.

Spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama is talking to senior members of his team and intends to nominate someone quickly.

The peace process negotiator moved to play down speculation that he would allow his name to go forward, saying he was too old.

Scalia’s casket is scheduled to make its way from the Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home in Virginia to the Supreme Court Great Hall at 9:30 a.m. The general public viewing is scheduled to last until 8 p.m. EST. I know that some of our colleagues wish that restoration of this principle were not required. Hours after the call, an op-ed penned by Mr. McConnell and Mr. Grassley was published in The Washington Post restating their case for why Mr. Obama should leave the job of naming a nominee to the next president.

Obama also spoke with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, Earnest said.

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. But it was united Friday in grief over the passing of the sometimes cantankerous and always colorful conservative justice who served on the nation’s highest court for almost three decades.

“In recent history, we have not had a Supreme Court vacancy that has spanned two Supreme Court terms”, Earnest said.

“It was very moving”, said Emily Weatherspoon, 17, who was one of the first in line this morning and is visiting Washington with her high school class from North Carolina. He said the president has sought his advice but they had yet to discuss potential candidates.

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

Partisans on both sides of the Democrat-Republican divide are searching through records to understand the ideological bent of Srikanth Srinivasan, an Indian American who is expected to be nominated to the bench by President Obama.