liberal justice ruth bader ginsburg saying she and her colleague were quote, best buddies for more than 30 years. in the meantime, justice scalia's passing leaves the supreme court split between liberals and conservatives. that is fueling a political fight. president obama says he plans to nominate a justice to fill the vacancy and democrats say appointment should wait for a new president. >> right in the middle of a presidential campaign. and somebody is going to win that and the person who wins that is going to have the right to replace justice scalia, whether a democrat or republican. >> it is outrageous that republicans in the senate and on the campaign trail have already pledged to block any replacement that president obama nominates. >> reporter: his death leaves conservatives without a key vote that could impact some major cases before the high court. the white house says president obama will not introduce a nominee this week but rather, when the senate returns from recess. officials here in texas say it appears justice scalia died of quote, natural causes. in el paso, texas, cas

bader ginsburg whirled news tonight will have more on scully is life and legacy that's coming up after thirteen years now at six a couple is in the hospital both of them in critical condition after house fire early this morning it happened on the tory drive to rosemont road in virginia beach also in that home two dogs one of them died in the fire fire officials still are working to find out what caused that house to catch fire to her is lived out there in the neighborhood and joins us with more to write a look at the house were here behind me you can see some smoke damage to the front of the home here and some boarded up windows so it doesn't appear to be extremely damaged from the front but fire officials the next or the morning they saw huge flames in the backyard fire officials say when they arrived this morning the woman living in the home was already outside and told them the man was still inside neighbor see the two are married and have been living here for years firefighters were able to make their way inside to pull him out when they found him he was unconscious but breathing p

among those mourning on the court, his best friend on the court, really, justice ruth bader ginsburg, the most l liberal justice. they were very close friends for many years, and even justice el ena elena kagan, was charmed by him. he introduceder to quail hunting and she went with h every year. so, he was a remarkable man. a man so fulull of life and ideas. controversial ideas.s. he was the boogie man for many, many liberals in and out of the courts. but no question, while there may not be a scalia era on the court, you can't point to thatt many rulings he won, there's scalia influence on the court and in the law. >> and tey, you pointed out with me on the air earlier, he wasn't always on the winning side, as you just said. most recently with same-sex marriage and stipulations for obama care, but one critical role he did play was gore v bush in 2000. talk to me about that case. >> reporter: well, that was the case that tossed the 2000 election into thsupreme court. and in that case, he found with the majori, with chief justice rehnquist and others, that the presidency should go to ge

one of his closest friends on the court, liberal justice ruth bader ginsburg. just last year, scalia head headlines, voicing his dissent of the 6-3 decision to uphold a key component of the affordable care act, or obamacare, calling it, interpretive jigry pokery, in which words no longer have meaning. scalia, who over the years had become the anchor of the court's conservative majority, was confirmed by the senate 30 years ago, 98-0. >> martha raddatz for us tonight. martha, thank you. >>> let's go straight to senior white house correspondent jonathan karl. jonathan, this news is so fresh, but now there is a vacancy in the supreme court. >> reporter: a vacancy of the conservative icon of the supreme scalia was really the hero to conservatives on the court. with that vacancy, the question is, will a republican-controlled senate allow president obama to replace scalia and we have an answer to that, at least from the repeplican leader of the senate, mitch mcconnell, is already out with a statement, saying that the american people should speak in the next election,

a passion for music that he shared with his dear colleague and friend, justice ruth bader ginsburg. michelle and i were proud to welcome him to the white house, including in 2012 for a state dinner for prime minister david cameron. and tonight, we join his fellow justices in mourning this remarkable man. obviously today is a time to remember justice scalia's legacy. i plan to fulfill my constitutional responsibilities to nominate a successor in due time. there will be plenty of time for me to do so, and for the senate to fulfill its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote. these are responsibilities that i take seriously, as should everyone. they're bigger than any one party. they are about our democracy. they're about the institution to which justice scalia dedicated his professional life in making sure it continues to function as the beacon of justice that our founders envisioned. but at this moment, we, most of all, want to think about his family and michelle and i join the nation in sending our de deepest sympathies to his wife maureen and their lovin

hid closest friends on the court, probably ruth bader ginsburg, perhaps the most liberal liberal justice. but really set him apart was just the ferocity of his opinions. american law. and that, at the end of the day, is something that i think we can all say, like him or not like him, he achieved. tom? >> no doubt an incredible legal mind. and for those that knew him, a larger than life personality. terry, thank you so much. we'll have much more on "gma" and "this week" in the morning. i'm tom llamas. i'll see you right back here tomorrow night. good night. the billionaire? his former girlfriend speaks out. >> it was intense. it was extremely intense. >> wait until you hear what she says about trump running for president. >> then, the oj simpson slow speed chase. but whatever happened to the real white bronco? 22 years later, inside edition tracks down the long lost bronco. >> mysteries of oj's bronco revealed. >> and ... turkey on a plane. plus, guess who? inside edition goes undercover as an old lady. how vulnerable are the elderly to getting ripped off? >> $57,000. >> 12500. >> lisa gu

especially ruth bader ginsburg, their friendship so evident when they were together. >> we do also have a different style. opinions as rather dull, boring. yours are really jazzy sometimes. >> jazzy. >> reporter: in a heartfelt statement, justice ginsberg saying, he was a jurist of captivating brilliance and wit, with a rare talent to make even the most sober judge laugh. >> and terry moran with us live tonight, and terry, if we don't have a new justice until the next president takes office, more, has this happened before, and what does the court do in the meantime? happened, david. back in the 1950s, justice jackson died, and the court basically kept on with its work. they do have the option of what you might call a do-over. they can rehear a case, but basically, the bottom line here is, it's not a great situation, but the court, on most cases, doesn't need to decide the issue tomorrow. david? >> terry moran with us tonight from the court. rry, thank you. >>> overseas tonight, and to syria, and just days after the u.s. and russia announced a deal that would pause fighting there, after

counting among his very closest friends liberal justice ruth bader ginsburg. >> for those who knew antonin scalia, his passing is a shocking loss and his death has ratcheted up the stakes in american politics. justice scalia was often the most forceful and eloquent voice on conservative positions. david lavigne spent a summer with him in italy. this is a picture of scalia holding up lavigne's child. he said he was a charming man to spend time with, unafraid of chairing his point of view. he said scalia's passing has raised the stakes in the u.s. presidential race. >> you've got this presidential election coming up, and because everybody knows that this slot cold change the balance of power on the supreme court for decades to come. so the stakes could not be higher. >> he says supreme court confirmations can take months, especially if the republican controlled senate votes down any of president obama's possible nominees. a president versus senate standoff could focus attention on senatorial races. republicans are defending more seats than democrats this year. >>> the open justice seat has b

liberal justice ruth bader ginsburg said that they were best buddies. even though disagreed on the bench, the two justices were known to hang out often, even vacation together with their families. >> former president george w. bush called him a towering figure, an important one. he hits the campaign trail today, he'll join his brother jeb at an event in south carolina. this comes after a blistering attack on the bushes from d dald trump. trump accused the former president of ignoring the cia and destabilizing the middle east by invading iraq. now, according to the latest poll, trump has a commanding lead in south carolina, with 42% >> on the democratic side, something of a campaign concidence involving "hot topics" and bernie sanders. they attended the same service. there's no video of the meeting. they both addressed the congress geg grags with the race in nevava extremely close, hillary clinton canceled a trip in order to stay in nevada. sanders takes his campaign to michigan today. >>> we switch gears now to the cold. bitterly cold in the northeast t