[2Wycked]

A sad day, indeed:

Quote:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died of apparent natural causes Saturday on a luxury resort in West Texas, the San Antonio-Express News reported.

Scalia, 79, was a guest at the Cibolo Creek Ranch, a resort in the Big Bend region south of Marfa, the paper reported.

According to a report, Scalia, an associate justice, 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.

The U.S. Marshal Service, the Presidio County sheriff and the FBI were involved in the investigation, the paper reported.

A federal official who asked not to be named told the paper there was no evidence of foul play and it appeared that Scalia died of natural causes.

Scalia, the longest serving justice on the Court, was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. He was the first Italian-American justice.

Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement confirming Scalia’s death and calling him a “man of God, a patriot, and an unwavering defender of the written Constitution and the Rule of Law.”

“He was the solid rock who turned away so many attempts to depart from and distort the Constitution,” the statement said. “His fierce loyalty to the Constitution set an unmatched example, not just for judges and lawyers, but for all Americans. We mourn his passing, and we pray that his successor on the Supreme Court will take his place as a champion for the written Constitution and the Rule of Law.”

Scalia -- for all the faults you might find his views -- was a brilliant legal mind, a tremendous writer and had an unparalleled attention to detail. There have been many, many justices on the Supreme Court that pale in comparison to his mind and his ability.

That being said, as much as I have enjoyed reading his opinions, I found I disagree with him quite a bit. I have never put much stock in "originalist" interpretations of the Constitution. But then again, I don't view the Constitution as some infinite resource to be mined for "social justice."

Here is a interesting interview with from a couple years ago.

Any takers on what woman Obama appoints to the bench?

[Soma]

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