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Thousands Gather for US Supreme Court Justice Scalia's Funeral Mass

© REUTERS / Larry DowningU.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is seen during a group portrait in the East Conference Room at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, in this file photo taken October 8, 2010.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is seen during a group portrait in the East Conference Room at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, in this file photo taken October 8, 2010. - Sputnik International
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The funeral mass of US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died at the age of 79, was attended by several thousand people, according to media.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Several thousand people attended the funeral mass of US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the US capital of Washington, DC, on Saturday.

Reverend Paul Scalia, one of nine sons of the deceased justice, led the mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, as broadcast live on television.

​Justice Scalia's casket, draped in the US flag, received a final blessing before being led out by pallbearers for a private burial.

Scalia died at a resort in west Texas on February 13 at the age of 79.

Historic 1920 Temple of Justice on the Capitol Campus in Olympia, Washington, which houses the Washington Supreme Court - Sputnik International
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His death sparked a debate among Republican lawmakers and Democratic President Barack Obama over the appointment of his successor.

Obama vowed to exercise his Constitutional duties to nominate a candidate to fill Scalia’s seat, while senior Senate Republicans cited a decades-long precedent prohibiting the president from making judicial appointments in the last year of his term.

The US leader was not present at the funeral mass, but attended Scalia's wake in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court the day prior.

Scalia is remembered as an avowed Constitutional originalist with conservative credentials, who regularly disagreed with but was respected by liberal colleagues.

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