Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Antonin Scalia's Casket Arrives at Supreme Court; Scalia's Body to Lie in Repose at Supreme Court. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired February 19, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(JUSTICE SCALIA'S CASKET ARRIVES AT THE SUPREME COURT)
[09:38:47] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we are in the great hall of the U.S. Supreme Court. And you can see the Supreme Court justices paying their respects to Justice Antonin Scalia. His casket now in place. Placed on that pedestal. The same pedestal that held the casket of Abraham Lincoln.
Tell us who we're seeing, Jeff?
JEFF TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, there in the black glasses is Sonya Sotomayor. Next to her is Stephen Breyer. They are standing in the order in which they sit on the Supreme Court bench. There's Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice Roberts. To Chief Justice Roberts' right is the traditional seat for the most senior associate justice. Now there's Anthony Kennedy, who's the tall gentleman. And that, of course, was Antonin Scalia's seat until his death.
COSTELLO: I see Elena Kagan there.
TOOBIN: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the short older woman between Justice Kennedy and Justice Samuel Alito, then Justice Elena Kagan in the blue shirt. I am - I am embarrassed to say the fellow - oh -
COSTELLO: Let's listen to Father Paul Scalia.
FATHER PAUL SCALIA: My brothers and sisters, Jesus says, come to me all you who labor in our burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden, light.
[09:40:16] Out of the depths I cry to you, oh, Lord, Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my voice and supplication. If you, oh, Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with you is found forgiveness that you may be revered.
I trust in the Lord. My soul trusts in His word. My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels wait for the dawn, for with the Lord is kindness and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.
Let us pray for the coming of the kingdom as Jesus taught us. Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
God of faithfulness, in your wisdom you have called your servant, Antonin, out of this world. Release him from the bonds of sin and welcome him into your presence so that he may enjoy eternal life and peace and be raised up in glory with all your saints. We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
CROWD: Amen.
SCALIA: Blessed are those who have died in the Lord. Let them rest from their labors for their good deeds go with them. Eternal rest grant unto him, oh, Lord. May he rest in peace. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. May the peace of God which is beyond all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of His son, Jesus Christ. May almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
COSTELLO: All right. You can see the Supreme Court justices now leaving the great hall and Justice Scalia's casket remains. In just about 45 minutes, the doors of the Supreme Court will open to the public and the public can file by to pay their respects. I would assume that the people with their backs to the - with their backs to the camera that are leaving right now are members of Justice Scalia's family. He had nine children. He has 36 grandchildren. And there you see Father Paul Scalia, Justice Scalia's son, who offered a prayer over his father's casket.
And I must say, that was quite moving, Jeffrey.
[09:44:51] TOOBIN: Oh, it's - and the fact that it was his son that did it, is just - it's so wonderful. You know, that is the - the great hall of the Supreme Court, and those busts there are the previous 16 chief justices of the United States. There have been 44 presidents, but only 17 chief justices, including John Roberts, of course, who is now chief justice. And there are the law clerks lined up, and it's really one of the great rooms of Washington. It is -- it is both somber, but also filled with light, and it is a place where all these momentous occasions of the Supreme Court take place, in the great hall.
COSTELLO: It's quite beautiful. It has marble walls, marble floors. There is a portrait of Justice Scalia hanging somewhere near his casket. Maybe we'll get a glimpse of it soon.
I want to bring in - back in Ed Whalen who was a law clerk of Justice Scalia's to talk a little bit about Justice Scalia's family. Large, close, Italian, Catholic, traditional, loving.
ED WHALEN, LAW CLERK TO JUSTIC SCALIA: Absolutely. Well, Italian and Irish. Remember, Mrs. Scalia is the former Maureen McCarthy. Justice Scalia loved to emphasize the Italian-Irish mix. But nine children, 30-something grandchildren, I've heard different counts. I think Justice Scalia might have had difficulty himself remembering the number as it, you know, kept increasing. I'm delighted to be friends with some of the children and really know
Mrs. Scalia very well and love her deeply. So it's a -- it's a tremendous family.
TOOBIN: His son, Eugene Scalia, is a prominent lawyer here in Washington. He was the solicitor of the Labor Department during the second Bush administration. So, at least one of his kids has followed into the family business.
COSTELLO: Yes.
WHALEN: Yes, I believe there's another - I know there's at least one other son, John, who is a lawyer. I don't think there are other lawyers, but I may be mistaken.
COSTELLO: You know, it's interesting, when reading about Justice Scalia and how he raised his family. They were very close, but, you know, he was definitely of the old school. He expected his children to pull themselves up by their bootstrap, work hard, make successes of themselves. There was no coddling in that family.
TOOBIN: And it's...
WHALEN: Well, he -- I'm sorry, Jeff.
TOOBIN: Go ahead, Ed. No, go ahead, Ed.
WHALEN: You know, whenever - whenever he would hear praise for his kids, he would immediately say, Maureen deserves all the credit. You know, she -- she was really his rock, the family's rock. And she -- you know, she was so dedicated. He was, too, but, of course, but he gave her all the credit.
TOOBIN: Maureen was also a frequent attendee at Supreme Court oral arguments. You could always tell when there was a big case because Maureen Scalia was in the audience. And, of course, Justice Scalia was such a dominant presence in Supreme Court oral arguments. I mean, I'm thinking about this, and I know Ed is a frequent visitor at Supreme Court.
You know -- I have never been to a Supreme Court oral argument where Justice Scalia was not present. And I think most living people in the - you know, who follow the Supreme Court have never been to a Supreme Court argument where Justice Scalia was not a participant. And he was not just a participant, but he was the dominant personality, even though he wasn't Chief Justice, and the first time we see the court in action without Justice Scalia present will certainly be striking and very -- very sad.
COSTELLO: Yes, I think the court gets back to business on Monday, right?
TOOBIN: That's right. And, of course, there will only be eight justices, which creates potentially its own complications, but just as a - you know, the Supreme Court in addition to being a very important place, it's a workplace. It's a place where people go to work every day, and they know each other and they've worked together for years and years. And the -- and all of the justices have only worked with Justice Scalia as part -- as part of their group, and for them, it's just going to be a dramatic, dramatic change.
COSTELLO: And his chair - his chair still has some black drapery over it, and the flags are flying at half-staff and will for the next -- I guess they fly at half-staff for 30 days...
TOOBIN: 30 days.
COSTELLO: ... after a justice died.
I want to go to Pam Brown. She's outside, you know, near the steps of the Supreme Court to provide us a little color about what's happening outside now. Tell us more, Pam.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was really just profound being out here, Carol, when the casket arrived, and you saw the court police bring the casket up these marble steps in between Scalia's former clerks. We know he had 120 clerks, most of them are here today. And standing at the top of those marble steps was Father Paul Scalia, one of Scalia's nine children who know led the private ceremony. He read the Lord's Prayer inside where Scalia's casket was in the great hall.
[09:50:02] And you saw the justices pay their respects. And there was one really moment poignant moment when the wife of Justice Thomas, Virginia, wiped tears from her face. You could really see the emotion in her face.
Justice Thomas had a close bond with Justice Scalia. Not only did they share the same conservative ideology and tetchulism (ph), but also they were close friends. And so, you could really just see the emotion in their faces. Justice Ginsburg as well, who we know is -- although she - she had a very different ideology than Justice Scalia, to put it lightly, they were very close and she was in there as well paying respects. Retired Justice Souter is there as well.
So, very, very emotional out here today, and especially in light of the fact this is someone who spent 30 years on the bench, and this is his last journey here to the high court.
COSTELLO: Pamela, I'm just curious because it's so cold outside today. At 10:30 the doors will open to the Supreme Court and the public can file by Justice Scalia's casket. Are there many people waiting?
BROWN: Yes, there are a lot of people. In fact, when the casket arrived across the street there were huge crowds. What was remarkable that you could really hear a pin drop. It was so quiet. And on the other end, people have been lining up for more than an hour now.
About an hour ago there were three dozen and that line continues to grow. We expect it to be a long line throughout the day, through 8:00 p.m. tonight when the doors close. So in the midst of all of that, we know the president and the first lady will also be arriving later this afternoon to pay their respects here. But - but clearly members of the public want to come out, want to pay tribute. This is really a time to mourn for Justice Scalia despite, you know, all the politics over the vacancy.
COSTELLO: Yes. I just want to pause for a moment to observe this moment, Jeffrey. What just happened?
TOOBIN: Well, the police force, the Supreme Court has its own police force, and the pallbearers, the people who actually carried the casket were Supreme Court police force members, though not in uniform. And now the uniformed members of the Supreme Court police force are paying their respects.
I'm just looking at the scene there and I'm remembering when Chief Justice Rehnquist was lying in repose in 2005, and I was walking by, paying my respects. Justice Scalia was there, and he had come by earlier in the day, but he came by again, and Justice Scalia had tears rolling down his cheeks. And he was not just an opera fan, but he had an operatic personality.
And he -- he just did not hide his emotions, and I thought it was such a vivid and real moment to see Chief Justice Rehnquist's casket there, and Antonin Scalia who replaced William Rehnquist as an associate justice in 1986 when Chief Justice Rehnquist was promoted to be Chief Justice by President Reagan, he didn't mind that everyone was seeing him with tears rolling down his cheeks because that was the way Antonin Scalia was.
Those are the rotating series of law clerks who will stand in respect over the many hours.
COSTELLO: Because it is tradition for the law clerks to stand by Justice Scalia's body all day today and all night tonight. Someone will be there that once served him as a law clerk.
TOOBIN: That's right.
COSTELLO: That is the tradition of the Supreme Court.
I want to bring in Douglas Brinkley, he's a presidential historian so he can put this day in perspective for us historically. Welcome, Doug.
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: So, put this day in perspective for us.
BRINKLEY: Well, it's a day of civility. It's time for all this rancorous sub politics to subside, at least for a few hours where we've been witnessing a very choreographed event that's been very well executed. I think it's important to remind ourselves that this is not a state funeral by Congress that's going on Friday and Saturday. This is -- the only Supreme Court justice that's had a state funeral was William Howard Taft and that's because he was - he was a former president and then Supreme Court justice from 1921 to 1930. So, this is very much the ceremony like 2005 that people would have
seen with Supreme Court Justice Rehnquist. But I think, though, the added piece to this event today, the memorial today, is that Justice Scalia isn't just a giant legal scholar and, you know - you know, originalism and textualism (ph), but he is an icon, hero to the conservative moment.
And since World War II, I think there are four horsemen, four Mount Rushmore-like figures for conservatives, Barry Goldwater for winning the Republican nomination in '64 and being kind of the John the Baptist libertarian figure which led to Ronald Reagan, and Reagan's the patron saint of conservatism. William F. Buckley's the other great intellectual of the "National Review" founder and editor. And then Justice Scalia.
[09:55:19] So, many people that will be coming here to pay homage and tribute to Justice Scalia are conservatives, people that feel that he was a part of their tribe and gave conservative ideas in the Supreme Court a public hearing, a say, and in that way his ideas are very alive today.
COSTELLO: All right. We have to take a break. Thank you. But stick around, Douglas, stick around Jeffrey. We'll have much more from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
