Grief Gives Way to Division in First Court Arguments Since Scalia’s Death.

'The day began with extended and sometimes wry reflections from Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on the life and work of Justice Antonin Scalia, whose empty chair at the Supreme Court was draped in black. It ended with a liberal justice invoking events in Ferguson, Mo., and accusing a conservative colleague of being ignorant of facts in a case that could lead to “a police state.”

Justice Scalia’s death has upended the court’s work, withdrawing an important voice and often crucial vote from the contentious docket his remaining eight colleagues face in coming months in cases on abortion, immigration and religious freedom. It has also created a titanic struggle over who will succeed him, one that will play out in a divisive debate that found an echo Monday in the first arguments since Justice Scalia died on Feb. 13.

It did not take long for the justices, who arrived solemn and somber, to show their sharp divisions. In short order, rancor seemed to replace grief.'>>>

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/us/politics/grief-gives-way-to-division-in-first-court-arguments-since-scalias-death.html?