Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies at 79

[XXL]

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies at 79

Reagan appointee was conservative fixture during three decades on the high court

http://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-dead-at-79-1455404229

WASHINGTON—Justice Antonin Scalia, who during three decades on the Supreme Court invigorated conservative jurisprudence and revived a focus on the Constitution’s original meaning, was found dead Saturday.

His death upended expectations for pending rulings on issues such as affirmative action, abortion, political redistricting and public-employee unions and cast the high court into a fractious political debate ahead of the presidential election.

“He was an extraordinary individual and jurist, admired and treasured by his colleagues,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement for the court. “His passing is a great loss to the court and the country he so loyally served. We extend our deepest condolences to his wife Maureen and his family.”

Flags at the Supreme Court building, bathed in spotlights, were lowered to half-staff.

President Barack Obama interrupted a visit to California to speak on the justice’s death, calling the 79-year-old Reagan appointee “one of the most consequential judges and thinkers to serve on the Supreme Court.”

While tributes poured in from across the political spectrum, politicians in Washington immediately girded for battle over Justice Scalia’s successor.

“I plan to fulfill my constitutional duties to nominate a successor in due time,” Mr. Obama said, calling on the Senate to “fulfill its responsibility” to give his choice a fair hearing and vote.

Senate Republicans declared the seat should stay vacant until the next president takes office in January.

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said in a written statement. “Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

Justice Scalia’s death throws the court and a wider political debate over the court’s role in society into a period of uncertainty.

On the court, his loss breaks the narrow 5-4 conservative majority that has held for decades, one reinforced 10 years ago when the second of two George W. Bush appointees was confirmed. The prospects for dramatic conservative victories on a range of controversial issues immediately diminished, as a 4-4 split on the court would leave standing lower court rulings conservatives hoped to overturn.

His passing elevates the Supreme Court, already playing a role in the Republican and Democratic presidential nominating contests, to front and center of the 2016 election. Many candidates have focused on the advanced age of several justices—three others are in their 70s or 80s—and the likelihood the next president could have a broad power to shape the direction of American law.

Justice Scalia was found dead Saturday morning where he was staying at a resort in western Texas for a hunting trip. The justice had returned last week from a 12-day visit to Asia with his co-author on several legal books, Bryan Garner, a professor at Southern Methodist University.

Justice Scalia appeared in fine health during the trip, which included speaking engagements at universities in Hong Kong and Singapore, Mr. Garner said. The justice was looking forward to an 80th-birthday celebration planned next month in Charlottesville, Va., Mr. Garner said.

Officials said Mr. Scalia apparently died overnight of natural causes. He went to bed early Friday night, telling friends he felt tired, the officials added. In the morning, he didn’t get up for breakfast, and when people went to check on him, he was found unresponsive.

Whoever succeeds Justice Scalia will have big shoes to fill. The former law professor brought an outsize personality, a searing wit and an intellectual clarity to his work, writing lines so memorable they have been adapted for stage and opera.

Born in Trenton, N.J., and raised in Queens, N.Y., Justice Scalia attended Georgetown University and Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Cleveland, taught law at the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago and served in the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations.

President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1982, and four years later elevated him to the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed him, 98-0.

Justice Scalia came to the bench as a champion of originalism, which sought to apply the Constitution according to the meaning its text held at its adoption. Conservatives saw it as a corrective to the “living Constitution” approach backed by liberal justices who said they should interpret foundational principles in light of changing times.

Justice Scalia wrote landmark rulings on gun rights, criminal law and free speech, and dissented, sometimes furiously, from landmark decisions expanding gay rights, reining in the death penalty and affirming abortion rights.

Yet he also joined with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—the liberal icon who for decades had been his closest personal friend on the court—in decisions protecting criminal defendants from intrusive searches and affirming the rights of state juries to award punitive damages as they see fit.