Obama to skip Scalia's funeral

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The bench chair of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died Saturday, is draped in black. | Getty

Obama to skip Scalia's funeral
The president's decision is being played up by some as a snub at a politically fraught time.
By Sarah Wheaton and Eliza Collins  | 02/17/16 01:32 PM EST  |  Updated 02/17/16 07:27 PM EST

  "President Barack Obama is preparing for a fierce battle with the Senate
   over the Supreme Court vacancy, but he's not planning to attend Justice
   Antonin Scalia's funeral — a decision that puzzled even some of his
   allies and incensed conservative media.
   
   "If we want to reduce partisanship, we can start by honoring great
   public servants who we disagree with," Obama's former "car czar" Steven
   Rattner tweeted with a link to a headline about Obama skipping the
   funeral.
   https://twitter.com/SteveRattner/status/700062161549336576
   
   Fox News host Sean Hannity blasted out his own site's article that
   dismissed the decision as disappointingly expected: "Obama To SKIP
   Scalia Funeral, Here's A List Of OTHER Funerals He Was Too Busy To
   Attend."
   
   White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest revealed the president's plans
   during the daily briefing, saying Obama and first lady Michelle Obama
   will go to the Supreme Court on Friday "to pay their respects to
   Justice Scalia" while the justice lies in repose in the Great Hall.
   Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden, who share Scalia's
   Catholic faith, will be at the services instead.
   
   Earnest refused to be drawn out about why the president would not
   attend the funeral, saying he didn't know what the president plans to
   do on Saturday, and Scalia's son, Eugene, did not immediately respond
   to a question about whether the family requested that Obama not attend
   the funeral.
   
   "The president, obviously, believes it's important for the institution
   of the presidency to pay his respects to somebody who dedicated three
   decades of his life to the institution of the Supreme Court," Earnest
   said, adding that Friday marked an "important opportunity" to pay those
   respects.
   
   In spite of the criticism, people close to the Scalia family said Obama
   was making the right choice. "I wouldn't have expected President Obama
   to attend the funeral Mass, and I see no reason to fault him for not
   attending," said Ed Whelan, a former Scalia clerk who now heads the
   Ethics and Public Policy Center. "The ceremony at the Supreme Court
   seems the most apt opportunity for the president to pay his respects,
   but he obviously might have severe competing demands on his time."
   
   There's not substantial historic precedent for presidents attending the
   funerals of sitting justices. President George W. Bush not only
   attended, but also eulogized Supreme Court chief justice and fellow
   conservative William Rehnquist in 2005. But before him, the last
   justice to die in office was Robert H. Jackson in 1954.
   
   Still, the decision to forgo the funeral on Saturday was played up by
   some as a partisan snub.
   
   Tim Miller, the communications director for Jeb Bush, simply tweeted
   "Same." in response to a message from MSNBC host Chris Hayes, who said,
   "Some amazing advice my mom gave me once: 'If you're wondering whether
   you should go to the funeral, you should go to the funeral."
   https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/700051201644175360
   
   The optics of paying his respects to Scalia are tricky for Obama, who
   would have been the subject of constant cutaways to his reactions and
   interactions with members of Congress during the funeral, distracting
   from memorials for the giant of American legal thought.
   
   Obama so far has taken pains to show reverence for Scalia, even as he
   urged Republicans to keep an open mind about a replacement. In the
   immediate aftermath of Scalia's death last weekend, Obama praised his
   wit and predicted that he would be remembered as one of the "most
   consequential judges and thinkers to serve."
   
   Confronted with a series of questions during a press conference on
   Tuesday about Republican plans to block a nominee, Obama was careful to
   again express gratitude for Scalia's service before launching into a
   Constitutional lecture directed at the opposing party.
   
   Scalia's death ripped open a political seam that has suddenly consumed
   both the presidential race and the Senate, especially after Senate
   Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately issued a statement calling
   for Scalia's replacement to be delayed until the next president is in
   office. Obama almost as quickly announced he would not be deterred, and
   pronounced his intent to nominate a fair-minded legal heavyweight to
   replace Scalia.
   
   Former justice Sandra Day O'Connor on Wednesday appeared to back
   Obama's decision to move forward with a nomination, telling a Fox
   affiliate, "We need somebody in there to do the job and just get on
   with it."
   https://twitter.com/troyhaydenfox10/status/700102826152755200 

   So far, however, the president has not tipped his hand as far as top
   candidates, or even whether he will considering picking a moderate who
   could be palatable to the Republican-controlled Senate.
   
   The White House said no nomination is expected this week while Congress
   is in recess, but there's still been plenty of speculation and tea-leaf
   reading about both Obama's and the Senate's intentions.
   
   On Tuesday, some Republicans signaled they're open to at least holding
   hearings, if not also allowing a confirmation vote. Sen. Ron Johnson of
   Wisconsin in an interview with POLITICO bristled at the suggestion that
   his party would completely ignore a nomination, saying, "It's amazing
   how many words are being put in everybody's mouth."
   
   Also on Tuesday, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, whose
   panel would evaluate any potential Obama pick, said he wouldn't rule
   out holding hearings.
   
   On Wednesday, Nevada GOP Sen. Dean Heller broke with his party's
   strategy and called on Obama to put forward a consensus candidate. "The
   chances of approving a new nominee are slim, but Nevadans should have a
   voice in the process," said Heller, a purple state senator, in the most
   direct rebuttal to McConnell's plans to complete block a Supreme Court
   nominee.
   
   But McConnell is still making hay of the Senate's oppositional force,
   penning a letter on Wednesday afternoon for the Senate Republicans'
   campaign arm that told donors that their "support means everything at
   this pivotal moment in American history."
   
   "Senate Republicans have made a commitment to ensuring that the
   American people have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court
   Justice," McConnell wrote. "Stand with Senate Republicans as we hold
   our ground in waiting to confirm a new justice until after 2016, the
   time by which the American people will have chosen a new president and
   a new direction for our country."
   
   At the press briefing on Wednesday, Earnest also tried to clarify
   Obama's view on his own decision as a senator to filibuster against
   President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito, in 2006. Earnest
   said Obama "regrets" the decision. But, he said, the situation was
   different.
   
   "The president considered the qualifications and world view and
   credentials and record of the individual that President Bush put
   forward and then-Sen. Obama raised some objections," Earnest said. "And
   what the president regrets is that Senate Democrats didn't focus more
   on making an effective public case about those substantive suggestions."
   
   Burgess Everett and Nick Gass contributed to this report. "