Mourners to pay respects to late Justice Scalia at Supreme Court

Why is the WH not explaining Obama skipping Scalia funeral?

Thousands of mourners, from President Barack Obama to ordinary tourists, will pay their final respects to late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Friday as his casket lies in repose in the high court's Great Hall.
Court officials said Scalia's casket would be carried into the hall at approximately 9:30 a.m. local time for a private ceremony including family, friends and justices. The public will be admitted between 10:30 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The justice's former law clerks will take turns standing vigil by their former boss throughout the day and night in a tradition most recently observed after the 2005 death of former Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
The casket will rest on the Lincoln Catafalque, the platform on which President Abraham Lincoln's coffin rested in the Capitol rotunda in 1865. A 2007 portrait of Scalia by artist Nelson Shanks will be displayed nearby.

Obama and his wife Michelle planned to pay their respects at the court on Friday, while Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden were to attend Scalia's funeral Mass on Saturday.
The funeral Mass open to family and friends will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Burial plans have not been released.

In a departure from tradition, the court's current and former justices won't be lining the marble steps outside the court as the casket is carried through the main entrance. They will instead be waiting inside. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg did not explain the reason for the change.

Scalia's sudden death complicated an already tumultuous election year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says a replacement should not be named until the next president takes office. Obama pledged to pick a replacement "in due time" and challenged Republicans to hold a vote on his nominee.

Scalia was found dead on Saturday in his room at a remote Texas hunting resort. The 79-year-old jurist was appointed to the court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.

He is survived by his wife, Maureen, nine children and 36 grandchildren.