good evening, paula. reporter: i can t hear the broadcast. has it started? axelrod: we re having a little trouble with paula right now. this evening, chief justice john roberts released a statement saying scalia was an extraordinary individual and jurist who was admired and treasured by his colleagues. roberts added, scalia s passing is a great loss to the court and to the country he served. among justice scalia s most important decisions, he cast a crucial vote in bush v. gore the case, of course, that made george w. bush president in 2000, despite his ideological opposition to the perspectives of colleagues like justices ginsberg, and kagan, he was held in high esteem by them. we will pring in our chief legal correspondent, jan crawford right now. jan, the supreme court is session a week from monday, so how does the court move forward? reporter: i mean, i think that s one of those almost unimaginable questions. when you think about that seat that justice scalia
we begin with breaking news. supreme court justice antonin scalia dead at the age of 79. scalia was the longest serving justice of the current supreme court and its conservative. paula reid is in washington with the latest tonight. good evening, paula. reporter: i can t hear the broadcast. has it started? axelrod: we re having a little trouble with paula right now. this evening, chief justice john roberts released a statement saying scalia was an extraordinary individual and jurist who was admired and treasured by his colleagues. roberts added, scalia s passing is a great loss to the court and to the country he served. among justice scalia s most important decisions, he cast a crucial vote in bush v. gore george w. bush president in 2000, despite his ideological opposition to the perspectives of colleagues like justices ginsberg, and kagan, he was held in high esteem by them. we will pring in our chief legal correspondent, jan crawford right now. jan, the supreme cou
scalia was the longest serving justice of the current supreme court and its conservative. paula reid is in washington with the latest tonight. good evening, paula. reporter: i can t hear the broadcast. has it started? axelrod: we re having a little trouble with paula right now. this evening, chief justice john roberts released a statement saying scalia was an extraordinary individual and jurist who was admired and treasured by his colleagues. roberts added, scalia s passing is a great loss to the court and to the country he served. among justice scalia s most important decisions, he cast a crucial vote in bush v. gore the case, of course, that made george w. bush president in of colleagues like justices ginsberg, and kagan, he was held in high esteem by them. we will pring in our chief legal correspondent, jan crawford right now. jan, the supreme court is scheduled to go back into session a week from monday, so how does the court move forward? reporter: i mean, i
important decisions, he cast a crucial vote in bush v. gore the case, of course, that made george w. bush president in 2000, despite his ideological opposition to the perspectives of colleagues like justices ginsberg, and kagan, he was held in high esteem by them. we will pring in our chief legal correspondent, jan crawford right now. jan, the supreme court is scheduled to go back into session a week from monday, so how does the court move forward? reporter: i mean, i think that s one of those almost unimaginable questions. when you think about that seat that justice scalia has held now for 30 years being empty and the role he played on that supreme court and the impact he had on the law. of course, you know, this sparkling intellect, this conservative icon, not always able to persuade even the more conservative justices to go along with him, but always write separate dissents, arguing that the law actually should be turning, in a conservative direction. and now, of cours
notions had an influence on a generations of young conservatives. he had a deep effect on the law. born in trenton, new jersey, raised in queens, the son of italian immigrants was a high school valedictorian who studied at georgetown university and got his law degree at harvard. he issued thundererous dissents when the court upheld the right to abortion and in 2003 when it struck down the laws that targeted gays and lesbians. scalia came under fire last december when he made controversial comments about an affirmative action case at the university of texas at austin. he said: what may have been his most important majority in what may have his most important jamadaya jort opinion, scalia spoke for the court in 2008, declaring for the first time that the second amendment gave americans the he always played a key role in a series of 5-4 decisions that struck down campaign finance laws, and said all americans, including corporations and unions ha free speech right to spend their