Thousands Gather for Justice Antonin Scalia’s Funeral

The recent death of Justice Antonin Scalia has generated chaos in the political arena.

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”.

Paul Scalia told mourners at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception: “God blessed Dad with a deep Catholic faith”.

The President correctly stated he would nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia, and the Republican leadership correctly stated they were not bound to confirm that appointment.

Despite an onslaught of pressure from Democrats, Republican senators remain bullish that the Supreme Court won’t spill over their efforts to maintain the Senate majority in 2017.

Thomas ended his reading with the verses: “If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life?” The family has planned a memorial service March 1. The extended Scalia family gathered around the widow inside the court.

President Barack Obama did not attend Saturday’s funeral Mass, despite criticism from some Republicans.

Supreme Court Police pallbearers carry Justice Antonin Scalia’s flag-covered casket between rows of Catholic clergy and out of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception following his funeral service.

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.

“You hear Republicans say they will reject any justice that President Obama nominates, no matter how qualified”.

Already, the Federal Bar Association, the professional organization for private and government lawyers and judges practicing and sitting in federal courts, has stated that “high numbers of vacancies on the federal bench, coupled with increasing caseloads, are creating significant and unprecedented obstacles for the prompt administration of justice in our federal courts”. The state Supreme Court ruled that evidence presented by prosecutors against Strieff was inadmissible because it violated his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures under the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama paid their respects Friday, going to the Supreme Court’s Great Hall where Scalia lay in repose.

Antonin Scalia, a devout Catholic, was once lining up to make confession when he realised the priest was his own son. The two-hour funeral mass began and ended with the swinging of incense and carrying of a gold crucifix as the building resounded with singing and organ music. Since then, power has shifted to Senate leaders, he said, making the process more ideological and conflicts harder to resolve.

In attendance were Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States and Pope Francis’ personal representative, and scores of other bishops and priests – “in keeping with your desire to have a simple parish family Mass”, Wuerl said to laughter. Vice President Joseph Biden attended Saturday’s funeral.