My San Antonio: 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 really unfortunate with any death. And now, 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.
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.
70 comments:
The stakes for this upcoming election just got way higher. As if it could.
Terrible news. There's a good chance that the next president will make 4 SC appointments.
I hope there is an autopsy and that the Republican majority stands firm and refuses to schedule a confirmation hearing before the New President is sworn in.
But I wonder. Let's see Trump wins. Would the Duopoly force someone through with the Democrats and people like Lindsey Graham and John McCain combining to put an "acceptable" Justice on the court.
Was he fucking whacked?
They seem to be going out of they way to say "natural causes".
If he died today, how quickly could they do an autopsy?
Fishy
Wow!
Dammit, Lem, this isn't House of Cards :)
Why? Would it surprise you if this administration would stoop to murdering the chief conservative on the court?
There have been many strange unexamined occurrences in this administration.
Fast and furious and the alliance with the drug cartels.
The alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood in toppling governments in Egypt and Libya.
The lack of retribution after the fiasco in Benghazi.
And the big one. The burial of Osama Bin Laden's body at sea. No DNA. No forensics. No nothing. They expect us to take them at their word.
Scalia needs to be autopsied by an independent authority.
Dead in a hotel room. hmmmm.
One of the good guys.
"A gray Cadillac hearse pulled into the ranch last Saturday afternoon. The hearse came from Alpine Memorial Funeral Home."
What is the rush?
WHAT THE FUCK! NO AUTOPSY?
If he is cremated than you know what is up.
This seals Obama's legacy.
The new President is 11 months away. I think that's too long to go.
Given lifetime appointments, don't most SC justices die in office? There must be protocol for coping without a spare. This would be a good time to review previous courts and unexpected vacancies during contentious times.
I don't know, Trooper, could have been Cheney.
James Taranto
"This is the first Supreme Court vacancy under a Democratic president and a Republican Senate since 1888."
Jack Henneman
"Pro troll move: Obama resigns, Biden puts him up for SCOTUS and runs as an incumbent."
The thing is the GOP has not blocked anything Obama has tried. Obama has had the hardest time trying to figure out what will they say no to.
Splits attention from the election and er...emails....
This seals Obama's legacy
Statement from the senate... expresses condolences, rejects Obama appointment.
Link
The point is this is very fishy. Look you know that the powers that be are shitting that Trump or Sanders might get in. So why not put forth a compromise stealth candidate. A Kennedy. Worse a Souter. Some charter member of the Duopoly.
Both Trump and Sanders are too much of a wild card for the Duopoly to allow them to set the direction of the Court.
Personally I really worry about who Trump might appoint. That is in fact my biggest worry about him. But I know whoever he picks will be preferable to who Obama picks.
This is a gigantic mess.
Honor the man by dispensing with the conspiracy paranoia.
Glenn Kessler
"In case you were wondering: When the Court divides 4-4 the lower court opinion is affirmed without creating any Supreme Court precedent"
Good idea. Lets just close our eyes and hum the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Obama will appoint Holder and it will be a shitstorm of immense proportions.
Will McConnell and Hatch and Graham and McCain really stand up to protect the Constitution"
Right.
I do know that there is one thing that Trump could do that might get him the nomination tonight
He just has to say if he is elected President he would appoint Ted Cruz to the Court. Think about that one.
Donald Trump can win the presidential primaries if he says the following during tonight's debate:
"And if you elect me president, I promise to nominate Ted Cruz for the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the untimely death of Justice Antonin Scalia."
In fact I predict that is what he would do. He would say something like "I don't know who I would appoint but I would think that Ted Cruz would be first on the list. First of all you don't have to be a natural born citizen to be on the Court. He is a brilliant lawyer just not a politician who can get along with the other side. I would prefer to have him on the Court to protect the Constitution not making deals with the Chinese and the Iranians and the Mexicans. You need somebody who knows how to make a deal to do that. So why not get the best of both worlds."
Great minds think alike Haz.
And the big one. The burial of Osama Bin Laden's body at sea. No DNA. No forensics. No nothing. They expect us to take them at their word.
Well, the guy seems to have been pretty damn quiet lately. And I'll bet you they collected samples on him to be tested (assuming any other bin Ladens had provided the CIA with biological samples).
The new President is 11 months away. I think that's too long to go.
Duh.
Can't there at least be some type of temporary appointment? The idea that the business of one of the nation's branches of government, the highest court of the land, can be put on hold for that long is outlandish.
Or maybe not. Maybe such supreme jurisprudence is too lofty to matter to everyday ordinary people.
WTF. It doesn't matter anyway. Temporary appointment, permanent appointment - Republicans will block every nomination there is. Like they always do.
"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president."
No shit, dildo. We had a "new" president in 2008 and 2012 - as much as Senator Turtle couldn't accept the result. Had Scales died at any point in these 7 years the sense of "crisis" among them would be just as great. And talk about a retarded conspiracy theory. If there was foul play it might as well have occurred at any point up until this time.
It's Republicans who would politicize it by saying that the next election should hinge on the entirely, otherwise normal process of finding a replacement for the old fart. It happens all the time. These pricks die in office and get replaced. Just because he happens to be the court's savior of the conservative cause doesn't entitle his admirers to extra stalling time so as to make his replacement an election issue.
Uh-oh Spaghetti-Os, you know what this means, don't you? Another Catholic funeral, that's what.
It's like the Bible says, "Big wheels keep on turning, Proud Mary keeps on burning, rolling, rolling, rolling down the river for everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven a time to embrace and time to Abedin push.
They don't make 'em like that anymore and maybe they do. Maybe they make 'em even better and smarter and less distracted.
Maybe Trump can win handily by stating flatly he'd appoint Cruz to Supreme Court, (lowest court in the land) where he might elevate the place a notch.
Everyone dies.
You know, Troop, you scared me for awhile there. I thought you croaked. I did. Everyone around me is dropping like flies. Healthy people too, zoink, gone. Just like that.
They won't let Obama appoint anyone.
I don't know, Trooper, could have been Cheney.
Heh. The guy did like to go duck hunting, after all - and even with face-shooter Cheney, as I recall.
So if Cheney nearly shot the face off and gave a heart attack to another old septuaginarian lawyer like Harry Whittington it's possible there's a chance he got a little more accurate with his aim on Scalia.
Well, now that would be sad. All that hunting gear and no ducks at the end of it.
Cheney was the first thought that came to my mind too when I saw the headline "Texas ranch". Texas? What has this county come to where hard conservatives aren't even safe in Texas?
RIP Judge Scalia.
Not a lot of deep mourning for Justice Scalia, and this is a conservative site........The smart death pool money was on RBG. When you're in the mortality zone, the next Grim Reaper visit is random and unpredictable, but you know he's in the neighborhood and making his rounds. Wendell Wilkie campaigned on his freshness and vitality, but he croaked before FDR......I have a lot of respect for David Souter. You're only old once, and you have to make the most of it. There are so many more enjoyable things to do than nodding off during oral arguments.
I'm not at all sure that the Senate would confirm Cruz even if he could get past a Democrat filibuster. The Old Dogs in the Senate seem to hate his guts. Just for shits and giggles Obama should nominate Cruz. The exploding heads would be fun to watch.
Place your bets on whether Obama tries to make a recess appointment.
Scalia was a giant in intellect and personality. He will be sorely missed regardless of who replaces him.
A-men Amartel.
"And if you elect me president, I promise to nominate Ted Cruz for the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the untimely death of Justice Antonin Scalia."
I would vote for Trump if he promised that. In half a heartbeat
If Trump promised to indict Hillary I'd be on board.
Scalia was a giant in intellect and personality. He will be sorely missed regardless of who replaces him.
I think this was because he was such an anomaly. Rarely has so talented a jurist been so committed to such a consistent sense of activism and conservative ideology while on the bench.
If Trump said he would nominate Obama for the seat, would you still vote for him? Lots of people would because of it, and he needs those votes. He doesn't have to worry about the people who might not like an Obama justice, because they have already made it clear that nothing will stop them from voting for him. He's kind of like a rock star that can degrade his groupies and still get what he wants from them. He is The Man!
Really God? You couldn't wait for a year? What? You got no good Italian food up there anymore? Timing, dude, timing.
Still ranting about Trump. Sad. Who are you *For*?
He died in his sleep. A peaceful end to life. I only hope and pray my death will be similar.
I am afraid I am going to die in some fucked up sexual situation and my mom will be devastated.
For example, I went to the Fens Victory Garden in order to get blown, in Boston, and walked into a wrong lane and almost drowned, surrounded by frogs and geese. I thought to myself, after, trying to hail a cab with goose turds and a painted turtle on me, my mom would be a mess.
Scalia had a judicial philosophy, constitutional originalism. It didn't always intersect with conservative agenda. He was NOT a partisan ends justify the means win-at-all costs whore. Can any of the libs on the court say the same?
I'm sincerely curious about the thinking here. I don't understand it completely. I get the passion against the status quo, and the players there, but the reasoning beyond that with Trump seems out of place and disconnected from the impressions I sucked up here and felt enriched by the entire time I've been here. The independence and skepticism has been great to be apart of. I love you guys and gals - I really do, but I don't understand the sudden surrender to the power of one man who is just doing his thing like the rest of us. Nothing wrong with him doing that, but the rest of us should not be bowing down prostrate with no objections, no critique. Is it year one here all of a sudden? Whether you like Trump or not, being unwilling to consider the shortcomings of a single applicant's ideas and record seems the opposite of what you all have been about.
I'm signing out here for the night, but I hope people respond to this. I truly want to understand you guys and your thinking.
!
@bagoh20: I'm for Trump because there's a lack of alternative. I told you why I can't support Cruz and you told me back that he'd changed his mind. I think that was before you chided Trump for changing his mind.
The debate was highly entertaining. Where I'd like to see each candidate:
Trump: POTUS
Carson: VP or Surgeon General
Cruz: SCOTUS
Rubio: Senate Majority leader
Bush: Retired
Kaisch: Governor of Ohio or VP
People booed Trump for saying that he only spent $3M in NH while Jeb spent $54M. If true, that really should embarrass Jeb. That people booed lends a lot of credibility to Trump's claim that the audience was in fact the "donor class."
I especially liked the part where Rubio accused Cruz of not knowing Spanish and Cruz responded to him in Spanish. It was hard to hear because of all the excitement.
Yes, I wish Cruz replying in Spanish could have been heard better, great comeback.
And why would Rubio assume someone with a Cuban father couldn't speak Spanish...that was weak tea.
deborah said...And why would Rubio assume someone with a Cuban father couldn't speak Spanish...that was weak tea.
People have dogged Cruz for a long time about not being an authentic "hispanic." Remember his come back to the guy who accused him of not speaking Spanish when he retorted "I'd rather speak English, señor." I suspect it's all Univision directed on Rubio's part.
Gah, this hurt me. Hurts me personally. I was a big fan of Scalia and his scathing opinions. RIP Justice Scalia and thank you for being a diligent servant to the Constitution. A life and a job well done. I wish you could have taught your Chief Justice a thing or two before you kicked the bucket. He still needs to learn some shit.
No, I didn't hear that one, chick, but it sounds like him.
Eureka!
Rubio...SCOTUS
Carson..VP tasked with ACA overhaul
Trump...SecState
Cruz....Attorney General
Bush....UN Ambassador
Kasich..Homeland Security
@deborah: Just so you don't think I was making it up: link. It's at the very end.
Believe it or not your opinion of me matters.
@deborah: There's no POTUS choice at your 2:17.
Chick, of course I didn't think you made it up! Like I said, it sounds just like something he would say. Me you too.
I meant Rubio as POTUS. And before anyone says it, RINO-wise Trump > Rubio. I like how Rubio shot the answer out about the first three question he'd ask his people on day one. I like how he defended 41 and 43.
Bonsoir, mes amis.
G'night, all!
Scalia was one of the most readable of the justices. I know its mostly jargon and law tech terms, but Scalia also wrote very memorable opinions. Non-lawyers like myself who are interested in the law loved reading his. He was even better when in the minority. A true conservative and will be missed.
God Bless, Nino.
Right after I signed off I realized what an asinine choice Trump was for SecState lol. Maybe ambassador to Russia.
Jim, I've never tried to read an SC decision. Will you please recommend a brief one :)
From NPR today: "One thing that is undeniable about Justice Antonin Scalia is that his opinions were always a good read. He was a reliable conservative, but every once in a while he broke rank. Most of all, however, Scalia, who died on Saturday, will be remembered for his scathing dissents.
We've sifted through many of his opinions. Here are 5 that are worth a read:"
From an article written by Jonathan Turley, posted at his blog and presented in the Washington Post:
"What made Scalia persona non grata with many legal intellectuals made him an icon for millions of average citizens. In a city that seems to overflow with doublespeak and guile, Scalia spoke clearly and passionately about the law. He often chastised his colleagues for assuming the position of a super-legislature and denying the public the right to solve difficult social and political issues. He railed against inconsistency in legal theory and the proliferation of different tests by the court to justify its conclusions...Scalia resisted the legal indeterminacy and intellectual dishonesty that he saw as a corruption of modern constitutional analysis. He believed that the law was not something that should be moved for convenience or popularity. Neither was he.
Once again, integrity not only matters, it leaves a legacy".
Good excerpt Mama.
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