President Obama is very likely not attending the funeral of conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. Instead, the President and the first lady are choosing to pay their respects on Friday at the Supreme Court, where Scalia will lie in repose.
This has drawn widespread criticism and raised many eyebrows.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest revealed to reporters on Wednesday, February 17, that Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden would be attending Scalia's funeral at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He also clarified that paying respects to Scalia, who devoted three decades of his life to the institution of the Supreme Court, was important to the President.
While Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren expressed her hope that politics was not the reason that was preventing President Obama from going to the funeral "for the sake of our nation and decency," she was far from the only critic.
Charles Lipson, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, used strong words in a column for Real Clear Politics. He said that Obama's decision not only insulted the memory of a life-long public servant but attending Scalia's funeral was also his basic presidential duty. "Obama has shirked his responsibility to all of us," he wrote on Thursday.
Press Secretary Earnest reportedly got interrogated about the President's plans for Saturay, and he was asked by reporters whether he could rule out the possibility of golf. Earnest replied by saying he did not know what President Obama's plans for Saturday were.
While, as Politico points out, there isn't definite political precedent to categorically decide whether or not a president is obliged to attend the funeral of a Supreme Court justice, presidents before him have done it. George W. Bush gave the eulogy for conservative justice William Rehnquist in 2005, and
Bill Clinton went to two funerals of Supreme Court justices but skipped three, including that of the legendary Thurgood Marshall, where Al Gore went instead.
President Obama and Justice Scalia reportedly did not see eye to eye on numerous constitutional issues.
