White House: President Obama will NOT attend the funeral for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

Arkain2K

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What say you, Sherdog? Should the sitting President of the United States skip out on the funeral ceremony of a sitting Justice of the United States Supreme Court, even if their ideologies are not the same?


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Scalia's chair on the Supreme Court bench and the bench itself were draped with black wool crepe in memoriam Tuesday — a Supreme Court tradition.

President Barack Obama will not attend Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's funeral on Saturday, the White House says.

The president and first lady will instead pay their respects on Friday while Scalia lays in repose at the high court.

'I can tell you that Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will attend Justice Scalia's funeral at the Basilica on Saturday,' White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

It was not immediately clear why the president won't go to the formal funeral.

'I don't have a sense of what the president's plans are for Saturday,' Earnest said after a reporter suggested it would be bad form for him to go golfing, a favorite weekend activity of Obama's.

The White House official had few details on the executive branch's involvement in the funeral proceedings. He could not say whether the vice president would give a eulogy.

When active Supreme Court Chief Justice Justice William Rehnquist passed away in 2005, then-President George W. Bush attended the ceremony and gave a tribute to the judge.




White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest:
Obama skipping Scalia's funeral because of "security footprint"
Josh Earnest, Obama's White House Press Secretary, said the president will spend a significant portion of his weekend reviewing individuals who 'may be worthy of consideration'.

'I would expect the president will spend a significant portion of his weekend digging into those materials,' he added.

Earlier today Obama and Michelle paid their respects at the Supreme Court as Justice Antonin Scalia's body lay in repose.

The president then spoke during a Democratic Governors Association Meeting, in which he told a group of Democratic governors he will press voting rights this year.

Earnest said on Thursday the president would be skipping Scalia's funeral on Saturday because of his 'security footprint'.



Mourners pay their respects at Justice Antonin Scalia's funeral
Justice Scalia spent more than three decades as one of the Supreme Court's most influential members.
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Justice Antonin Scalia's funeral was today at 11 a.m. Eastern at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. The Basilica, one of the largest and most beautiful Catholic churches in the country, was also the location of the Pope Francis's mass when he visited in September. Scalia's funeral is open to family and friends and thousands are expected to be attending. If you missed the funeral, you can watch it on C-SPAN. A private burial will take place after the mass.

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U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and his wife Jane Roberts and daughter Josie Roberts.


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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor.


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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Virginia Thomas.


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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan.


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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito.


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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer and his wife Joanna Hare.


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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy and his wife Mary Davis.


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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Ginsburg and Scalia were the best of friends and have deep respects for each other, despite their opposite ideologies.


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Former U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens.


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The casket of of US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is carried into the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.


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The widow Maureen McCarthy Scalia walks behind the casket of Justice Antonin Scalia.



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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, center, and Justice Samuel A. Alito, left, at the funeral mass for the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.


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The funeral mass for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.



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Reverend Paul Scalia, son of Justice Antonin Scalia, leads the funeral Mass.


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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivers a reading from the Bible during the funeral mass for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.


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Attendees watch during the funeral Mass for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception February 20, 2016 in Washington, D.C.


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Not a fan of this move, to be honest.
 
Don't care what the politics are. If you are a sitting president and a supreme Court Justice dies, you attend. Same goes for Senators and Governors(regardless of state size and importance).
 
meh. I would do the same. Im petty like that.
 
Rightwing comments sections are going nuts.

Obama and Michelle will pay their respects to the body lying in repose at the Supreme Court. He did order flags be flown at hald mast at government buildings here and some US properties abroad.
 
Despicable. This guy has no class. Sitting POTUS should always attend the funeral of a Justice.
 
Someone takes the "VP is for funerals" thing a bit too serious. Man up, cancel your plans and attend the funeral.
 
so no autopsy...at all?
WTF?
 
Seems like a breach of etiquette but who cares, why pretend they were close?
 
Rightwing comments sections are going nuts.

Obama and Michelle will pay their respects to the body lying in repose at the Supreme Court. He did order flags be flown at hald mast at government buildings here and some US properties abroad.

What'd you expect? He's paying his respect. We don't know why he's not showing up to the funeral.

Maybe the family asked him not to come, maybe he didn't want it to be a circus show, maybe he will show up but they are covering for it for security reasons, maybe death threats from gun nuts?

We literally have no idea right now.

But he is paying respect and everyone needs to shut the f*ck up.
 
Sometimes I think he does this when he doesn't like someone. He sent Biden to Ariel Sharons funeral and everyone knew to view that as an insult. In this case Scalia isnt half way across the world so I am not a fan of this unless their is some dying world pressing event that must be attended.

I recall another time they sent Biden somewhere for a funeral.
 
Despicable. This guy has no class. Sitting POTUS should always attend the funeral of a Justice.
" Presidents don’t always attend a Supreme Court Justice’s funeral. According to NBC News, only three out of the past seven Supreme Court justice funerals were attended by the President. When Bill Clinton was President, he attended two Supreme Court Justice funerals, but did not attend three others. He was present at former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger’s and Justice William Brennan’s funerals. He did not attend Justices Harry Blackmun or Lewis F. Powell Jr.’s funerals, or Justice Thurgood Marshall’s. Former Vice President Al Gore did attend Marshall’s funeral. Former President George W. Bush did not attend Justice Byron White’s funeral.

However, attending a sitting Justice’s funeral is viewed by some as being completely different in significance. According to Townhall, this may be the first time in the last 65 years that a current president skipped the funeral of a sitting Justice, although early records are not completely clear. Scalia is the only justice to have died in office since Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who passed away in 2005. Bush attended Rehnquist’s funeral and said the eulogy. When Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson died in 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower was photographed at his funeral. "

http://heavy.com/news/2016/02/why-i...court-justice-funeral-history-bush-rehnquist/

Probably should have but maybee he has a very good reason.
 
And cancel seeing Beyoncé in concert? I don't think so.




I'm joking. I could care less. And you know who else doesn't care? Scalia, because he be dead.
 
Seems petty and beneath the office not to attend.

Besides Bush/Renquist, what is the historical significance?


Edit: microbrew answered
 
let the dead, bury the dead, obama you should be there
 
President Trump will not attend Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's funeral on Saturday stating, "Good riddance. She was a complete disaster. I will replace that loser with the greatest justice this country has ever seen." Conservatards applaud the president for holding true to his pledge to not be influenced by PC culture, and "tell it like it is".
 
Don't think this matters at all. Right wingers sound like the PC crowd complaining about shit that doesn't matter. Dead people don't care what happens once they die....because they are dead.
 
I get this uneasy feeling that there's some big reason why he won't be there, and none of us will like it when we find out.
My sense is this has to do with US Chinese relations.
 
Don't think this matters at all. Right wingers sound like the PC crowd complaining about shit that doesn't matter. Dead people don't care what happens once they die....because they are dead.
respect liberals can't relate
 
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