Mourners pack Supreme Court to pay tribute to Antonin Scalia
Justice Antonin Scalia's flag-draped casket was carried up the marble steps of the Supreme Court Friday in a somber procession that began a day of ceremony and tribute to one of the court's most influential members.
Scalia's eight Supreme Court colleagues, his family and nearly 100 former law clerks watched solemnly as Supreme Court police placed the casket on a funeral bier first used after President Abraham Lincoln's assassination.
The Rev. Paul Scalia, the justice's son and a Catholic priest, said traditional prayers. "You have called your servant Antonin out of this world," he said. "May he rest in peace."
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A 2007 portrait of Scalia by artist Nelson Shanks was displayed nearby. In it, the justice is shown surrounded by images representing important moments and influences in his life, including a framed wedding photograph of his wife, Maureen. She, their nine children and three dozen grandchildren were present.
Before Scalia's body arrived, his former clerks formed two lines down the court steps and across its marble plaza. A few wiped away tears after the casket arrived. The 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 doors to the court chamber, where Scalia had served for nearly 30 years, were open at the east end of the hall. Black wool crepe hung over the entrance, and Scalia's courtroom chair was draped in black.
After a private ceremony for family, friends and justices, Scalia's casket was on public view from 10:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. The line of people waiting to pay respects stretched for nearly a block just before the public was allowed in.
Topics Politics
Johnny Simon is a Photo Editor at Mashable, where he works to tell compelling stories utilizing the visual medium of photography. A graduate of Ohio University's School of Visual Communication, Johnny has previously worked for MSNBC and Slate and interned in the White House Photo Office under photographer Pete Souza.
