Scalia’s Body at Texas Funeral Home After 3-hour Procession

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is interviewed by The Associated Press, on July 26, 2012, at the Supreme Court in Washington. AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

WASHINGTON—Antonin Scalia’s body lay in a Texas funeral home Sunday and officials awaited word about whether they would need to perform an autopsy before the late Supreme Court justice could return home to Virginia. In the nation’s capital, where flags flew at half-staff at the White House and Supreme Court, the political sniping soared, raising the prospect of a court short-handed for some time.

The Senate’s Republican leader, backed largely by his party’s White House candidates, essentially told a Democratic president in his final year in office not to bother asking lawmakers to confirm a nominee for the lifetime seat.

Scalia’s colleagues praised his brilliance and grieved his death. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she and Scalia “were best buddies” for more than 30 years. Justice Clarence Thomas said, “It is hard to imagine the court without my friend.”

New Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Rehnquist, right, shakes hands with the newest Associate Justice Antonin Scalia outside the Supreme Court Building in Washington, Sept. 26, 1986. Rehnquist is the 16th chief justice and Scalia is the 103rd person to sit on the court. AP Photo/Barry Thumma