[ColoradoTree]

Obama declines to attend Justice Scalia's funeral.

Yeah, I understand he and Michelle are going to pay their respects privately at the Supreme Court on Friday, and the Vice President will attend the funeral in the President's place.  I'm not sure there's a right answer to whether or not a President attends a funeral of a Supreme Court justice.  I understand the argument that Justice Scalia was important or consequential enough to rate the President's attendance (which is true), but I also understand the argument that the President's attendance has a tendency to distract from the moment at hand, and would keep talking heads focused on the politics of the coming nomination rather than remembering Scalia himself (which is also true).  I'm honestly not sure whether the President could win, no matter what he did here. 

I was curious about whether this was common, and per Above the Law (http://abovethelaw.com/2016/02/obama-to-...overreact/), this seems to be the breakdown:

2016 (Justice Scalia): Vice President Biden will attend in the President's place.
2005 (Chief Justice Rehnquist): President George W. Bush attended.
2002 (Justice White): Neither President Bush nor Vice President Cheney attended.
1999 (Justice Blackmun): Neither President Clinton nor Vice President Gore attended.
1998 (Justice Powell):  Neither President Clinton nor Vice President Gore attended.
1997 (Justice Brennan): President Clinton attended.
1995 (Chief Justice Burger): President Clinton attended.
1993 (Justice Marshall): Vice President Gore attended in the President's place.

So, a mixed history of this (of the 8 funerals, the President attended 3, the VP attended 2, and 3 happened without either of them).  To me, as long as the President makes a point to pay his respects in person (which he is doing on Friday), I'm fine.  I get that there would be strong feelings about this, and my slight preference may have been for the President to attend the funeral, but I understand the other eight Justices and the Scalia family will be at the Supreme Court as well on Friday, so maybe that's the right thing to do to keep it on the private side?  Not really sure.  This doesn't feel outrage-worthy to me, though. 

[ColoradoTree]

Obama declines to attend Justice Scalia's funeral.

Yeah, I understand he and Michelle are going to pay their respects privately at the Supreme Court on Friday, and the Vice President will attend the funeral in the President's place.  I'm not sure there's a right answer to whether or not a President attends a funeral of a Supreme Court justice.  I understand the argument that Justice Scalia was important or consequential enough to rate the President's attendance (which is true), but I also understand the argument that the President's attendance has a tendency to distract from the moment at hand, and would keep talking heads focused on the politics of the coming nomination rather than remembering Scalia himself (which is also true).  I'm honestly not sure whether the President could win, no matter what he did here. 

I was curious about whether this was common, and per Above the Law (http://abovethelaw.com/2016/02/obama-to-...overreact/), this seems to be the breakdown:

2016 (Justice Scalia): Vice President Biden will attend in the President's place.
2005 (Chief Justice Rehnquist): President George W. Bush attended.
2002 (Justice White): Neither President Bush nor Vice President Cheney attended.
1999 (Justice Blackmun): Neither President Clinton nor Vice President Gore attended.
1998 (Justice Powell):  Neither President Clinton nor Vice President Gore attended.
1997 (Justice Brennan): President Clinton attended.
1995 (Chief Justice Burger): President Clinton attended.
1993 (Justice Marshall): Vice President Gore attended in the President's place.

So, a mixed history of this (of the 8 funerals, the President attended 3, the VP attended 2, and 3 happened without either of them).  To me, as long as the President makes a point to pay his respects in person (which he is doing on Friday), I'm fine.  I get that there would be strong feelings about this, and my slight preference may have been for the President to attend the funeral, but I understand the other eight Justices and the Scalia family will be at the Supreme Court as well on Friday, so maybe that's the right thing to do to keep it on the private side?  Not really sure.  This doesn't feel outrage-worthy to me, though.