Maureen Scalia, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's widow, was one of the Trump family's guests during the speech to the joint session of Congress. President Donald Trump made mention of this fact, and spoke about how he was honored to have her present and how he thought her husband was a "symbol of American justice."
"I am honored to have Maureen Scalia with us in the gallery tonight. Her late, great husband, Antonin Scalia, will forever be a symbol of American justice. To fill his seat, we have chosen Judge Neil Gorsuch, a man of incredible skill, and deep devotion to the law. He was confirmed unanimously to the Court of Appeals, and I am asking the Senate to swiftly approve his nomination."
In response to this, the members of the Supreme Court present at the speech broke with tradition and gave Mrs. Scalia a standing ovation. Normally, the justices do not stand or applaud during these remarks. Justice Scalia's son Christopher tweeted about the "beautiful" moment in a tweet that was shared over two thousand times.
Justices never clap, let alone stand, during speeches to joint session, but they did for my mom. Beautiful. pic.twitter.com/JYDNzBtOdE
— Christopher J Scalia (@cjscalia) March 1, 2017
Beautiful, indeed.
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