Justice Antonin Scalia’s died at age 79; Washington Pauses for His Funeral

With pageantry, spirituality and a touch of his own trademark humor, Justice Antonin Scalia was honored on Saturday as a capital riven by his death briefly set down its political weapons to mourn what his son called “the country’s good servant.”

Justice Antonin Scalia

Antonin Scalia was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice member was born on March 11, 1936, in Trenton, New Jersey. He was a practicing lawyer in the 1960s, and then worked in public service in the '70s with roles in President Richard Nixon’s general counsel and as the Assistant Attorney General. In the '80s he became a part of President Richard Nixon’s Court of Appeals. In 1986, President Reagan nominated him as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, serving in that capacity until his death on February 13, 2016.

The nation’s leaders, including justices, judges, lawmakers, current and former vice presidents and a presidential candidate, gathered for a mostly solemn two-hour funeral Mass. The longest-serving member of the current Supreme Court, Justice Scalia died at age 79 last weekend at a Texas ranch after nearly 30 years on the highest bench.