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[h=4]First take: Old Washington meets new at funeral for Justice Antonin Scalia[/h]The courtliness of Washington's past met the combativeness of the present
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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was remembered Saturday as a man who loved God, country and family at a funeral Mass capping two days of mourning for a jurist who left a long and sometimes provocative legacy on the nation. (Feb. 20) AP
Ushers guide the casket during the funeral Mass for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Saturday.(Photo: Pool)
WASHINGTON — The courtliness of Washington's bygone days<span style="color: Red;">*</span>met the combativeness of the social media era Saturday at the funeral of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a man who merged the two<span style="color: Red;">*</span>seamlessly.
USA TODAY
At funeral Mass, Justice Scalia eulogized as a man of faith as well as law
There was Vice President Biden greeting Justice Clarence Thomas, a quarter century after the two clashed at the Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearings that nearly ended Thomas' chance<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of sitting beside<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Scalia on the bench.
There were all eight surviving members of the Supreme Court as well as retired justices<span style="color: Red;">*</span>John Paul Stevens and David Souter, mourning their lost colleague together with some who might replace him —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>federal appeals court judges Sri Srinivasan, Patricia Millett and Merrick Garland, as well as Attorney General Loretta Lynch.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Should a future Republican president get the privilege, federal appeals court judges Brett Kavanaugh and Jeffrey Sutton, along with former U.S. solicitor general Paul Clement, also were on hand.
There was Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, one of the most divisive young members of Congress,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>taking time off from today's South Carolina primary campaign to honor a justice before whom he argued nine Supreme Court cases. There was former vice president Dick Cheney and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, whose take-no-prisoners style of politics helped fuel<span style="color: Red;">*</span>today's often poisonous atmosphere.
Republican presidental candidate Sen. Ted Cruz and former vice president Dick Cheney were among the mourners at Justice Antonin Scalia's funeral.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Pool, Getty Images)
President Obama stayed at the White House on a day he ordinarily might have played golf, leaving the limelight to a justice with whom he disagreed on just about everything. That prompted GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump to tweet,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"I wonder if President Obama would have attended the funeral of Justice Scalia if it were held in a Mosque?"
The melding of hubris and humility amid several thousand<span style="color: Red;">*</span>mourners symbolized Scalia's 30-year Supreme Court career, which began when President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill would broker deals over drinks and ended amid wild conspiracy theories about who might have wanted Scalia dead.
Supreme Court Police pallbearers carry Justice Antonin Scalia's flag-covered casket between rows of Catholic clergy and out of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception following his funeral service.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Chip Somodevilla)
USA TODAY
Antonin Scalia: Will his conservative legacy live on?
Into the breach stepped Father Paul Scalia, one of the justice's nine children, who presided over his father's 90-minute funeral Mass at the soaring Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. In his 16-minute homily, the younger Scalia hailed "a man loved by many, scorned by others ... known for great controversy and for great compassion," before clarifying that he meant<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Jesus of Nazareth.
"God blessed dad with a deep Catholic faith," he said, and a love of country -- a blessing that's lost "when faith is banned from the public square." That was the closest he came to a political statement in a homily intended to bring mourners together rather than fan the flames of political division.
Throughout the service, Scalia spoke more often of his father's faith and belief in God, Jesus Christ and the Hereafter, and his hope he would be deemed worthy of it. Like the majestic church inhabited by messy construction scaffolding, he said Justice Scalia<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was a work in progress.
Father Paul Scalia presides over the funeral Mass for his dad, Justice Antonin Scalia, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Pool, Getty Images)
"He was a practicing Catholic —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>practicing in the sense that he hadn't perfected it yet," his<span style="color: Red;">*</span>son said. To those in attendance from all of Washington's generations and religions, he urged increased attentiveness and responsiveness to their own imperfections.
"We cannot depart here unchanged," Paul Scalia said, and no one did. At the very least, they left behind a wily, 79-year-old justice who bridged the nation's gap between<span style="color: Red;">*</span>courtly and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>combative.
USA TODAY
Justice Scalia found dead at Texas ranch
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