Thousands pay respects to Scalia at high court

Associated Press

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.

The Rev. Paul Scalia, the justice’s son and a Catholic priest, said traditional prayers at a private ceremony before thousands of people filed through the court’s Great Hall, where Scalia’s casket lay on a funeral bier first used after President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Outside the court, meanwhile, a makeshift memorial was set up featuring jars of applesauce, a pile of fortune cookies and paper bags, items that figured in the outspoken conservative Scalia’s sharp dissents in recent cases.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama visited the court Friday afternoon, bowing their heads near Scalia’s casket and pausing in front of a portrait of the justices. During their brief stop at the court, the Obamas were greeted by Chief Justice John Roberts and met with another son of Scalia’s, Army Lt. Col. Matthew Scalia, and his family. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, were to attend today’s funeral Mass.

On Friday, 98 former law clerks to Scalia lined the Supreme Court’s steps as a police honor guard carried the casket into the building beneath the iconic words “Equal Justice Under Law” just after 9:30 a.m. on a cold, overcast morning.

The justices stood near the casket in the same order in which they will sit on a reconfigured bench after Scalia’s death last week in Texas. Chief Justice John Roberts was between Justices Anthony Kennedy, the longest-serving member of the current court, and Clarence Thomas.

A 2007 portrait of Scalia by artist Nelson Shanks was displayed nearby. In it, the justice is shown surrounded by images representing important moments and influences in his life, including a framed wedding photograph of his wife, Maureen.

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 today.

Among those passing through the Great Hall were members of the federal appeals court on which Scalia served before joining the Supreme Court, including two judges mentioned as possible replacements. Judges Sri Srinivasan and Patricia Millett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit paused briefly before Scalia’s casket.

More than 3,000 people had passed by the casket as of late afternoon, and court officials added an extra hour to accommodate the lines that stretched more than three blocks in the early evening. At one point, the wait topped 31/2 hours, mainly because the public was not allowed in for a time because of the Obamas’ visit.

The Mass was to take place at 11 a.m. today at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Burial plans have not been released.

Scalia’s sudden death complicated an already tumultuous election year. His death gives Obama a chance to replace the conservative stalwart with a more-liberal successor who could tilt the ideological balance of the court for decades to come.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders have said a replacement should not be named until the next president takes office. Obama has pledged to pick a replacement “in due time” and challenged Republicans to have a vote on his nominee.