SCOTUS, Supreme Court

Obama Skipped The Scalia Funeral -- Let's All Overreact!

Is it really out of the ordinary for President Obama to skip Justice Scalia's funeral?

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ScaliaThe news lighting up them social medias right now is the confirmation straight from the White House that President Obama is going to skip Justice Scalia’s funeral on Saturday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Whether this is because noted Muslim Barack HUSSEIN Obama would burst into flame if he crossed the church’s threshold or because he cannot bear to attend the funeral of someone he smothered to death a week earlier is unknown.

Or maybe it’s just not that uncommon for sitting Presidents to skip Supreme Court funerals and we all need to chill out.

There will be a lot of sanctimonious complaining about this decision — even among those who don’t buy into the conspiracy theories — but recent history reveals a mixed bag when it comes to attending these funerals.

Perhaps because President Bush the Younger attended Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s funeral and he was the most recent Supreme Court funeral we’ve had, everyone has the impression that it’s the norm. But it’s not really.

Vice President Biden will attend Scalia’s service. Which is better than what Justices Harry Blackmun and Lewis F. Powell Jr. got — Bill Clinton and Al Gore skipped both of those. And that’s not a partisan slight — I don’t recall Bush or Cheney making it to Byron White’s funeral.

Bill Clinton made it out to Chief Justice Burger’s funeral, as well as that of Justice Brennan. But no less a titan of the bench than Justice Thurgood Marshall only rated a Veep in attendance, with Al Gore serving as the White House emissary.

The point is, it’s really not out of the ordinary for a president to not attend the funeral of a Supreme Court justice. Per a spokesperson, President Obama “will pay his respects at the Supreme Court on Friday and he’ll be joined with the First Lady when he does that.”

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And that’s all proper etiquette requires. But surely we’ll let this become a tempest in a teapot anyway.

Scalia Funeral Mass BasilicaUPDATE (2/20/2016, 2:15 p.m.): The funeral took place on Saturday, February 20, and as previously announced, the Obama Administration was represented by Vice President Biden.

As reported by Peter Baker of the New York Times:

Mr. Obama did not attend the funeral on Saturday, leaving it to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to represent the administration. The decision generated sharp criticism from some, including former Obama advisers, who called it a missed opportunity for the president to rise above the partisan fray that has broken out since Justice Scalia’s death. But others close to Justice Scalia and his family said it was more appropriate for the president to pay respects at the Supreme Court as he did on Friday.

The White House said the president and Michelle Obama had met privately with some members of Justice Scalia’s family while at the court. “The president and Mrs. Obama extended their personal condolences on behalf of the nation and expressed gratitude for Justice Scalia’s decades of public service,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said in a statement.

Video of the funeral Mass is available at C-SPAN.

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White House: Obama Will Not Attend Justice Scalia’s Funeral [NBC News]

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