Q: Is President Obama the only president not to attend funeral services for a sitting Supreme Court justice (Antonin Scalia) or a former first lady (Nancy Reagan)?

A: Obama is not the first president to miss the funeral of a sitting justice, and presidents rarely attend the funerals of former first ladies.

Read “Obama’s Funeral Attendance“ for the full answer.

Cruz, Rubio Twist Court ‘Precedent’

Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz distort the history of Supreme Court appointments in arguing that President Obama should not be allowed to fill the vacancy left by the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

They say there’s “a long tradition” and historical “precedent” for presidents not to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in their last year in office or during an election year. But a lack of opportunity — rather than a long-standing tradition — has been the reason most previous presidents did not make such appointments:

• Cruz said “it has been 80 years since a Supreme Court vacancy was nominated and confirmed in an election year,” citing this as a “long tradition.” Cruz is close (it has been 76 years). But until now only six presidents since 1900 had outstanding court vacancies in an election year, and in every case the vacancy was filled.
• Rubio claimed there is a “precedent” of more than 80 years that says “you do not have a lame-duck president make a lifetime appointment to the highest court” in his last 11 months. Obama is the only lame-duck president in the last 116 years who had a vacancy suddenly occur in his final year in office.