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WASHINGTON (AP) — Bidding farewell to their longtime colleague, the eight remaining Supreme Court justices joined family members, former law clerks and members of the public Friday in paying their respects to Antonin Scalia in a tradition-laden, solemn day at the marble courthouse atop Capitol Hill.
The Rev. Paul Scalia, the justice's son and a Catholic priest, said traditional prayers at a private ceremony before thousands of people filed through the court's Great Hall, where Scalia's casket lay on a funeral bier first used after President Abraham Lincoln's assassination.
"You have called your servant Antonin out of this world. Release him from the bonds of sin and welcome him into your presence," the sixth of the justice's nine children said.
Outside the court, meanwhile, a makeshift memorial was set up featuring jars of applesauce, a pile of fortune cookies and paper bags, items that figured in the outspoken conservative Scalia's sharp dissents in recent cases.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama planned to pay respects later Friday, while Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden were to attend Saturday's funeral Mass.
On Friday, 98 former law clerks to Scalia lined the Supreme Court's steps as a police honor guard carried the casket into the building beneath the iconic words "Equal Justice Under Law" just after 9:30 a.m. on a cold, overcast morning.
The justices stood near the casket in the same order in which they will sit on a reconfigured bench following Scalia's death last week in Texas. Chief Justice John Roberts was between Justices Anthony Kennedy, the longest-serving member of the current court, and Clarence Thomas.
A 2007 portrait of Scalia by artist Nelson Shanks was displayed nearby. In it, the justice is shown surrounded by images representing important moments and influences in his life, including a framed wedding photograph of his wife, Maureen. The extended Scalia family gathered around the widow inside the court.
Scalia's clerks also took 30-minute turns standing near the casket in groups of four, and planned to do so through the night until his body is taken from the court for his funeral on Saturday.
Among those passing through the Great Hall were members of the federal appeals court on which Scalia served before joining the Supreme Court, including two judges mentioned as possible replacements. Judges Sri Srinivasan and Patricia Millett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit paused briefly before Scalia's casket and portrait.
The court building was to be open for 9½ hours to allow visitors to file through. At one point, the line of people waiting to pay respects stretched more than a block and the wait to get in was 90 minutes.
Rhaleta Bernard from the New York City borough of Queens, where Scalia grew up, had been visiting Washington with her husband, Kelvin. They changed their bus tickets in order to pay their respects.
Bernard said Scalia "believes in interpreting the law, not making the law."
"I want another Scalia," said Bernard, a reading specialist. "I don't think there's another one, though."
Visitors passed near the collection of flowers and goods people left to remember Scalia and some of his sharply worded comments. Scalia had called Roberts' opinion for the court in last year's health care case "pure applesauce." He compared Kennedy's majority opinion declaring the right of same-sex couples to marry to the "mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie" and said he would hide his head in a paper bag if he ever joined such an opinion.
The Mass, open to family and friends, will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Burial plans have not been released.
Scalia's sudden death complicated an already tumultuous election year. His death gives Obama a chance to replace the conservative stalwart with a more liberal successor who could tilt the ideological balance of the court for decades to come.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders have said a replacement should not be named until the next president takes office. Obama has pledged to pick a replacement "in due time" and challenged Republicans to hold a vote on his nominee.
Scalia was found dead on Saturday in his room at a remote Texas hunting resort. The 79-year-old jurist was appointed to the court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American F-15E fighter-bombers struck an Islamic State training camp in rural Libya near the Tunisian border Friday, killing dozens, probably including an IS operative considered responsible for deadly attacks in Tunisia last year, U.S. and local officials said. The strike did not appear to mark the beginning of a sustained U.S. campaign in Libya but a Pentagon spokesman said "it may not be the last."
The spokesman, Peter Cook, said the U.S. is determined to stop the Islamic State from "gaining traction" in Libya. Cook said the training camp was "relatively new," and that the U.S. has identified similar Islamic State training camps elsewhere in Libya, suggesting potential future strikes in defense of regional and U.S. national security interests.
In Libya, local officials estimated that Friday's U.S. attack killed more than 40 people with more wounded, some critically. Up to 60 people were believed to be at the camp, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence-related information.
Political chaos in Libya has allowed the Islamic State to expand across the northern coast of the oil-rich North African country, which is just across the Mediterranean from Italy and has also become a major conduit for African migrants heading to Europe. IS controls the central city of Sirte and a number of oil installations.
Adding to the concern in Washington and Europe is evidence that the number of Islamic State fighters in Libya is increasing — now believed to be about 5,000 — even as the group's numbers in Syria and Iraq are shrinking.
The Obama administration has said it would approve of international military support for counter-Islamic State efforts in Libya once the country assembles a unity government. But it also has vowed to strike key targets when opportunities arise, such as Friday's attack near the city of Sabratha.
The Libyan parliament is close to endorsing a new unity government cabinet, which could eventually seek international military intervention against Islamic State extremists.
Cook said the U.S. airstrikes targeted extremist Noureddine Chouchane, a Tunisian national. Cook called him "an ISIL senior facilitator in Libya associated with the training camp," using another acronym for the Islamic State.
Cook did not confirm that Chouchane had been killed but said "we feel good" about the effectiveness of the attack, which other officials said were conducted by F-15E strike aircraft based in Britain. Cook said unmanned aircraft, or drones, also were involved.
Cook said Tunisian officials in May 2015 had named Chouchane as a suspect in a March 18, 2015, attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis in which 22 people died.
"He facilitated the movement of potential ISIL-affiliated foreign fighters from Tunisia to Libya and onward to other countries," Cook said.
"Destruction of the camp and Chouchane's removal will eliminate an experienced facilitator and is expected to have an immediate impact on ISIL's ability to facilitate its activities in Libya, including recruiting new ISIL members, establishing bases in Libya, and potentially planning external attacks on U.S. interests in the region," he added.
The Islamic State also claimed responsibility for a June 2015 attack at the Tunisian resort of Sousse in which 38 people were reported killed.
Before the Sousse attack, the Tunisian Interior Ministry issued a wanted poster for Chouchane. He is originally from the Sidi Bouzid region, where the 2011 revolution that ousted President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was triggered when a fruit and vegetable seller set himself on fire.
After the Sousse resort attack, the then-security chief for Tunisia, Rafik Chelli, told AP that the suspects killed in the Bardo and Sousse attacks had received military training in a camp in Sabratha.
On Friday, a witness in Sabratha said he heard two explosions at 3:30 a.m. coming from the nearby village of Qasr Talel, at the same time the Pentagon said the airstrike began. He said the house that was hit belongs to Abdel-Hakim al-Mashawat, known locally as an Islamic State militant, he said. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety.
The official Facebook page of the Sabratha local city council also put the death toll at more than 40 with more wounded, some critically. "There are torn body parts buried under the rubble," it said in a posting. It said the victims were not all Libyans. The witness said he saw a hospital list that noted victims were from Tunisia and Algeria as well as Libya.
Sabratha is one of the main launching points for smugglers' boats heading to Europe. It has been also a transit point for Tunisians and North African jihadists before joining Islamic State affiliates elsewhere in Libya.
Cook said Friday's airstrike was taken "with the knowledge of Libyan authorities," but he would not be more specific about any coordination.
In November, a U.S. military airstrike killed an Islamic State leader named Abu Nabil or Wissam al-Zubaydi, an Iraqi national in the eastern city of Darna.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Taylor Swift's official switch from country to pop with her multi-hit, best-selling "1989" album brought the singer her second Grammy Award win for album of the year.
Swift was shocked when she won the night's top prize, beating out Kendrick Lamar, Chris Stapleton, Alabama Shakes and the Weeknd. Swift used her speech to encourage young women who feel defeated at times or discouraged by others.
"There will be people along the way that will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. You just focus on the work and don't let those people sidetrack you," she said.
Her speech could be directed partly to Kanye West, who recently said in a new song that he made Swift famous after he stole her microphone at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Beyonce also seemed to make a statement when she presented the final award for the night, record of the year.
"Art is the unapologetic celebration of culture through self-expression. It can impact people in a variety of ways for different reasons at different times. Some will react. Some will respond. And some will be moved," she said, seeming to speak to those who were critical of her Super Bowl performance of the anthem, "Formation."
Swift, who won the album of the year Grammy for "Fearless" in 2009, walked away Monday with three awards, including best pop vocal album and music video for "Bad Blood," at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Alabama Shakes also won three awards, though Lamar was the night's big winner with five.
He won best rap album for "To Pimp a Butterfly" as well as rap performance, rap song, rap/sung performance and music video. Along with his wins, Lamar also had a show-stopping moment when he took the stage.
He started as he appeared beaten, in handcuffs, with chains around his hands and a bruise on his eyes. He went on to fuse rap, jazz, reggae and African sounds for a commanding performance as he rapped "The Blacker the Berry" and the Grammy-nominated "Alright" passionately. He ended with a map of Africa, and the city of Compton imprinted in it.
"Hip-hop, Ice Cube, this for hip-hop, this for Snoop Dogg ...this for Nas. We will live forever, believe that," said Lamar onstage when he won best rap album.
Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars won two awards for "Uptown Funk," including record of the year. Ronson gave a shout-out to Prince, James Brown and George Clinton for being leaders in funk.
"This is dedicated to the fans right here," Mars added.
Mars introduced Adele, who sang "All I Ask," which they wrote together for her new album "25." She was accompanied with a piano behind her, but the audio sounded off and appeared to throw off her performance.
"The piano mics fell onto the piano strings, that's what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune," Adele tweeted. "(Expletive) happens."
A spokesperson for CBS, where the Grammys aired, said "there was a brief 5-8 second technical issue that was out of our control."
Justin Bieber started "Love Yourself" on guitar in good form, but ended with a vocal struggle. Little Big Town and Demi Lovato, however, had shining moments during their performances, hitting impressive and smooth high notes.
But Bieber also had a shining moment: He won his first Grammy on Monday night for best dance recording for "Where Are U Now" with Skrillex and Diplo.
The Grammys also marked first-time wins for Alabama Shakes, the Weeknd, Stapleton, Pitbull and Ed Sheeran, who won song of the year for "Thinking out Loud."
"We wrote it on a couch in my house," he said of his hit song he wrote with Amy Wadge, which also won him best pop solo performance.
Alabama Shakes' three wins included best alternative music album for "Sound & Color," as well as rock song and rock performance for "Don't Wanna Fight," which they performed.
"My heart is beating a mile a minute," said frontwoman Brittany Howard. "I promise we're going to keep going."
The Weeknd, who won two awards, performed in a cube that was brightly lit for "Can't Feel My Face" until he switched to a piano-tinged version of his upbeat hit "In the Night." Stapleton, who has written for dozens of country acts, won best country solo performance and country album for "Traveller."
"This is something you never ever dream of so I'm super grateful for it," he said.
Stapleton lost best country song to "Girl Crush" songwriters Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey and Lori McKenna, while the group behind "Girl Crush" — Little Big Town — won best country duo/group performance for the hit track.
The Grammys featured a number of performances, including touching tributes: Lady Gaga was in David Bowie-inspired makeup and gear as she ran through 10 of the icon's hits, including "Space Oddity," ''Changes," ''Fame," ''Let's Dance" and "Heroes."
B.B. King was remembered with a rousing performance by Stapleton, Gary Clark. Jr and Bonnie Raitt — all on guitar and vocals — with "The Thrill Is Gone."
The Hollywood Vampires, a supergroup of Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, performed in their first televised performance and honored Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister. Stevie Wonder, joined with Grammy-winning a capella group Pentatonix, sang "That's the Way of the World" in honor of Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White, while members of the Eagles and Jackson Browne sang "Take It Easy" for Glenn Frey.
Rihanna, who was supposed to perform near the top of the show, couldn't due to doctor's orders.
"Rihanna's doctor put her on vocal rest for 48 hours because she was at risk of hemorrhaging her vocal chords," a statement from her representative read.
Recording Academy CEO said Lauryn Hill, who was supposed to surprise the audience by performing with the Weeknd, said Hill showed up for dress rehearsal but didn't make it in time for the show. The academy never officially announced Hill was performing.
"She was invited by (the Weeknd)," Portnow said backstage.
Collaborative performances were one of the themes of the Grammys: Carrie Underwood sang with Sam Hunt; Ellie Goulding and Andra Day performed; and while Lovato, Legend, Luke Bryan and Tyrese sang with Lionel Richie to honor the icon.
Meghan Trainor, who was nominated for two Grammys last year for "All About That Bass," won best new artist.
"Thank you to the Grammys, I love you so much," said a teary-eyed Trainor, who also thanked her parents and Epic Records CEO L.A. Reid.
Other winners included D'Angelo, Kirk Franklin, Jason Isbell, Tony Bennett, the cast of Broadway's smash "Hamilton" and Jeff Bhasker.