Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dead at 79

[Young Drachma]

404 - StoryLine

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Antonin Scalia was found dead Saturday at a luxury resort in West Texas, according to multiple reports.

Scalia was 79 at the time of his death.

[Young Drachma]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's statement.

[PilotMan]

Holy Shit.

[SirFozzie]

Rest in Peace, Mr. Scalia.

And let the extreme shitshow from the GOP to block his replacement begin

[Young Drachma]

Here's the original breaking story:

Senior U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia found dead at West Texas ranch - San Antonio Express-News

Scalia, 79, was a guest at the Cibolo Creek Ranch, a resort in the Big Bend region south of Marfa.
According to a report, Scalia arrived at the ranch on Friday and attended a private party with about 40 people. When he did not appear for breakfast, a person associated with the ranch went to his room and found a body.

Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia, of the Western Judicial District of Texas, was notified about the death from the U.S. Marshals Service.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said he was among those notified about Scalia's death.
"I was told it was this morning," Biery said of Scalia's death. "It happened on a ranch out near Marfa. As far as the details, I think it's pretty vague right now as to how," he said. "My reaction is it's very unfortunate. It's unfortunate with any death, and politically in the presidential cycle we're in, my educated guess is nothing will happen before the next president is elected."

The U.S. Marshal Service, the Presidio County sheriff and the FBI were involved in the investigation.
Officials with the law enforcement agencies declined to comment.
A federal official who asked not to be named said there was no evidence of foul play and it appeared that Scalia died of natural causes.
A gray Cadillac hearse pulled into the ranch last Saturday afternoon. The hearse came from Alpine Memorial Funeral Home.

[JPhillips]

Well now the Presidential race is going to be all about the Senate refusing to confirm a replacement.

Scalia was a great force, no doubt, and a massive personality. There will be a war over the replacement.

edit: His friendship with Ginsburg was one of the fascinating tidbits of the court.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Holy Shit.

What he said.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Well now the Presidential race is going to be all about the Senate refusing to confirm a replacement.

Scalia was a great force, no doubt, and a massive personality. There will be a war over the replacement.

edit: His friendship with Ginsburg was one of the fascinating tidbits of the court.

I've been friendly with assholes, too. He's not the first to appear on the planet.

[JPhillips]

Has anyone seen when votes are/were made on the big cases in front of the court? If the votes have already happened, do Scalia's votes still count? What happens if the court deadlocks 4-4?

[SirFozzie]

Heck, many of us here on this board are friends of people here on this board who we think have "asshole" political views.. we just avoid talking about that stuff or if we do, we basically say "Yeah, "So and So is just to the right-wing of Atilla the Hun"", or "So and So would ruin the country if they ran for office in a mountain of debt". We don't try to convert each other, or even really fight, because we know we won't agree.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Has anyone seen when votes are/were made on the big cases in front of the court? If the votes have already happened, do Scalia's votes still count? What happens if the court deadlocks 4-4?

Lower court decision stands.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...cotus_tie.html

[digamma]

RIP to a Court titan who I didn't always agree with, but certainly respected for his intellect and writing ability.

[molson]

I really enjoyed his writing. He made the whole concept of what the Supreme Court does and what appellate law is generally very accessible to me during law school, and I think that was true of a lot of people whether they agreed with him or not.

He was one of the few justices whose concurrences and dissents really mattered - they could be very persuasive to state and federal appellate judges. He was really locked into the practical impact of what he was doing, he could foresee the real-life issues that would arise from various big opinions, and he would use concurring and dissenting opinions to guide lawyers and judges who faced those issues later to make the arguments and rulings he thought should be made. As an appellate lawyer, it was always great to find one of those Scalia zingers in a concurrence or dissent when I was trying to argue how narrow a majority opinion or concept was was, or how it shouldn't be applied to some different issue.

And he was a real teacher of legal writing. He was one of the modern appellate judges who strongly believed in keeping language plain and simple. He came to talk to our office last year, and you could tell that he was most interested in talking about legal writing, and in his grumpy fashion, criticizing lawyers who can't write in a simple way.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Such a great loss. And such utterly horrible timing.

Rest in peace good sir, thank you for your efforts.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Holy Shit.

Another of these.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Clarence Thomas

Holy Shit.

cf Log In - The New York Times

[albionmoonlight]

My colleague and I have talked about how his later opinions did not do him justice. He let his anger get the best of him in the Affordable Care Act and gay marriage cases. Those will hurt his legacy a bit. If he had retired after Heller, he would have gone out on the top of his game.

That said, he was one of the most important and influential Justices of all time. He's rightly on the level of Brandeis, Warren, Brennan, Rehnquist, etc.

[albionmoonlight]

Dola, and he could be the best friend to a criminal defendant. On the right issues, he was more pro D than anyone on the court

[AENeuman]

The biggest bias in my government class is my love of Scalia. I love that there was a mental giant representing a side. (Unlike, in my opinion, Thomas, the political place holder) Ginsberg said she loved the way he challenged her- and that is exactly what I think the founders would have wanted.

[kcchief19]

Sadly, I think Justice Scalia could have gone down as one of the great jurists in American history had his public rhetoric matched his private beliefs. Scalia clearly had strong beliefs and fought for them tooth and nail in the scope of his job, yet at the same time held the greatest regard and friendships with polar political opposites such RGB and Kagan.

In a time when this nation is so divided, Scalia could have been the clarion voice that said disagreements over the role of government, the law and the morality are not personal, that it's possible to disagree over politics but still treat each other with dignity and respect and not hold hate for one another.

I wish he had done that, because it sure seems he lived his private life that way. Instead, too many politicians look to his rhetoric and not his practice. They think Scalia hated liberals. He didn't, he simply disagree with their interpretation of the Constitution. People who twist Scalia's words into hating the other side don't understand Scalia.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

My colleague and I have talked about how his later opinions did not do him justice. He let his anger get the best of him in the Affordable Care Act and gay marriage cases. Those will hurt his legacy a bit. If he had retired after Heller, he would have gone out on the top of his game.

That said, he was one of the most important and influential Justices of all time. He's rightly on the level of Brandeis, Warren, Brennan, Rehnquist, etc.

The name I think of with Scalia and his legacy is Roger Taney. No doubt conservatives for decades and maybe even centuries will explore his writings for inspiration. But I think in the long term, his retrograde positions on many social issues will harm him in the long run. Just as the Dred Scott decision made the legacy of Taney mixed, I think in the future he will be judged as an influential yet flawed jurist who was behind the times in the area of civil rights.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Has anyone seen when votes are/were made on the big cases in front of the court? If the votes have already happened, do Scalia's votes still count? What happens if the court deadlocks 4-4?

Scalia's votes on any pending decisions are no longer valid.

[Toddzilla]

correct. any decision that hasn't been made public - even if the court had decided and opinions were 99% finished being written - Scalia's vote is now void.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by Clarence Thomas

Holy Shit.

Originally Posted by QuikSand

cf Log In - The New York Times

Clarence Thomas Asked His First Question in 10 Years

[cartman]

I bet he was using the Ouija board and asked the question on behalf of Scalia.

[QuikSand]

Nice twist. Who had the under?

[larrymcg421]

If that was a PredictIt market, many people would've just made 100x on their money.

[vex]

GMU law school renaming after Antonin Scalia hits snag - CNNPolitics.com

[Dutch]

Oh perfect, the Onion bought CNN.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by vex

GMU law school renaming after Antonin Scalia hits snag - CNNPolitics.com

But #ASSlaw is so catchy!

[corbes]

I think they're missing out on marketing and merchandise opportunities by backing off the ASSLAW moniker.

[digamma]

At ASSLAW, no one worries about being at the bottom of the class.

[SackAttack]

See, my first reaction when the 'issue' with the name came up was 'I don't know, I think ASSoL might be a little on the nose.'

I hadn't even considered the hashtag angle.

[cartman]