President Obama Will Not Attend Funeral of Justice Scalia

Vice President Will Attend Scalia Funeral Instead

By: Elias J. Atienza

President Obama will not be attending the funeral of the late Justice Scalia, the White House confirmed today. Instead, he and First Lady Michelle Obama will travel to the Supreme Court on Friday in order to pay respects to the late Justice.

Scalia’s body will lie in the Great Hall on Friday and be open to the public to allow visitors to pay respect and honor him.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said only that President Obama will not be attending and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill will do so instead. He would not answer questions about what restricted the President from attending Scalia’s funeral.

“It’s important, before we rush into the all the politics of this, to take stock of somebody who made enormous contributions to the United States,” Obama said at a press conference Tuesday in California. “And we are grateful not only for his service but for his family’s service.”

In the last Supreme Court justice’s funeral,  Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 2005, President George W. Bush attended the funeral and eulogized Rehnquist as well.