Thousands Attend Funeral Mass for Justice Scalia

Thousands of people attended Saturday's funeral Mass in Washington DC for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the AP reports. The Mass was held at the nation's largest Roman Catholic church—the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Rev. Paul Scalia—one of Antonin Scalia's nine children—led the Mass and also delivered the homily. In highly personal remarks, Paul Scalia recalled his father's devotion to God and country. But he said that most important to him and his siblings was the love his father showed them. Mixing humor into the homily, the younger Scalia said his father sometimes forgot their names or mixed them up, but he excused him because there were nine of them.

Justice Clarence Thomas read from the New Testament during the funeral Mass, and the executive director of a conservative legal group read from the Old Testament. Also in attendance were Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, and the eight sitting Supreme Court justices. The Supreme Court says more than 6,000 visitors came to the court on Friday to view Antonin Scalia's casket in the Great Hall. (More Antonin Scalia stories.)