Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies Four Days After He and Four Other Republican Members Handed Down a Series of Unexpected Orders Halting Environmental Regulations

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead in his room Saturday morning, February 13, 2016. Scalia spent his final hours as part of a group of about 35 weekend guests who had arrived at Cibolo Creek Ranch, a West Texas resort, at around noon Friday. His body was flown to northern Virginia from Texas late Sunday after investigators determined there was no foul play in the 79-year-old's death. Judge Cinderela Guevara of Presidio County, Texas, told Fox News that she determined Scalia had died of natural causes. Guevara also said that she had spoken to local investigators and U.S. marshals, as well as Scalia's family and personal physician, before determining that an autopsy was not necessary. Another justice of the peace in Presidio, Juanita Bishop, disagreed with Guevara’s decision not to order one, telling The Washington Post, "If it had been me … I would want to know."  

According to the San Antonio Express-News on February 15th, Guevara said Scalia's doctor told her that the justice was suffering from minor ailments, but did not elaborate further. However, according to Good Morning America on February 16, Guevara said she spoke to Scalia's doctor in Washington who told her that Scalia had been sick and had visited his office twice during the week leading up to the trip. The Associated Press reported that Guevara said the doctor told her that Scalia had a history of high blood pressure, heart trouble and was considered too weak to undergo shoulder surgery following a recent injury. Guevara told ABC News that the death certificate will say that he died of natural causes with myocardial infarction, better known as a heart attack, being a contributing factor.

“We discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled. He was lying very restfully. It looked like he had not quite awakened from a nap,” Cibolo Creek Ranch owner John Poindexter told the San Antonio Express-News on Saturday.

The Supreme Court Just Gave The Finger To Obama’s Plan To Slow Climate Change

February 9, 2016

Think Progress - The five Republican members of the Supreme Court handed down a series of unexpected orders Tuesday night, February 8th, halting environmental regulations that were expected to “avoid thousands of premature deaths and mean thousands fewer asthma attacks and hospitalizations in 2030 and every year beyond,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency. As ThinkProgress has previously explained, these regulations “represent the most significant thing America has ever done to combat climate change.”

The justices cast their vote along party lines. All four of the Court’s Democrats voted to allow the rules to go into effect.

The Court offered no insight into its reasoning beyond its vote. Under Tuesday evening’s orders, “the Environmental Protection Agency’s ‘Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units,’ is stayed pending disposition of the applicants’ petitions for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and disposition of the applicants’ petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is sought.” In effect, this means that the rules will remain suspended until a federal appeals court rules on this challenge to the regulations, the parties challenging the rules seek Supreme Court review, and the justices decide how they wish to handle that request.

Given the complexity of this case and the Supreme Court’s schedule, Tuesday evening’s order could easily delay the rules until after President Obama leaves office — if they get to go into effect at all.

In the 2007 case Massachusetts v. EPA, Justice Anthony Kennedy broke with the other four members of the Court’s conservative bloc to join an opinion holding that the Clean Air Act permits the EPA to “regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles.” The Obama administration rules halted in this latest case, by contrast, deal with greenhouse emissions from existing power plants. Nevertheless, Kennedy’s vote in the Massachusetts case offered hope to environmentalists and to the people whose lives would be saved by the suspended regulations that he would once again side with the EPA.

The ultimate outcome of Kennedy’s vote remains uncertain. With his vote to suspend the rules, however, Kennedy casts a cloud of doubt over whether the United States of America is capable of taking steps needed to mitigate climate change.

Results in key cases could change with Scalia's death

February 15, 2016

AP - The Supreme Court abhors even numbers. But that's just what the court will have to deal with, perhaps for many months, after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Eight justices will decide what to do, creating the prospect of 4-4 ties.

Here are some questions and answers about the effect on the court of the death of its conservative icon and longest-serving justice:

Q. What happens to cases in which Scalia cast a vote or drafted an opinion, but no decision has been publicly announced?

A. It may sound harsh, but Scalia's votes and draft opinions in pending cases no longer matter. Veteran Supreme Court lawyer Roy Englert says that "the vote of a deceased justice does not count."

Nothing is final at the court until it is released publicly and, while it is rare, justices have flipped their votes and the outcomes in some cases.

Q. What happens if there is a tie?

A. The justices have two options. They can vote to hear the case a second time when a new colleague joins them or they can hand down a one-sentence opinion that upholds the result reached in the lower court without setting a nationwide rule. When confirmation of a new justice is expected to happen quickly, re-argument is more likely. In this political environment, the vacancy could last into 2017.

Q. Why doesn't the court like tie votes?

A. A major function of the Supreme Court is to resolve disputes among lower courts and establish legal precedents for the entire country. Tie votes frustrate those goals and they essentially waste the court's time.

Q. How does Scalia's death affect specific cases?

A. It deprives conservatives of a key vote and probably will derail some anticipated conservative victories in major Supreme Court cases, including one in which labor unions appeared headed for a big defeat. Next month's Supreme Court clash over contraceptives, religious liberty and President Barack Obama's health care law also now seems more likely to favor the Obama administration.


Q. Unions have suffered a string of defeats at the Supreme Court. Is that likely to change?

A. Yes, at least in the short term. Many of the cases involving organized labor were decided on 5-4 votes, with the conservative justices lining up against the unions and the liberal justices in support. The pending case seemed like more of the same. Public sector labor unions had been bracing for a stinging defeat in a lawsuit over whether they can collect fees from government workers who choose not to join the union. The case affects more than 5 million workers in 23 states and Washington, D.C., and seeks to overturn a nearly 40-year-old Supreme Court decision.

Now, what seemed like a certain 5-4 split, with the conservatives in the majority and the liberals in dissent, instead looks like a tie that would be resolved in favor of the unions, because they won in the lower courts.

Q. What other pending cases could be affected?

A. A challenge to the way governments have drawn electoral districts for 50 years now appears to have little chance of finding a court majority. The court heard arguments in December in a case from Texas on the meaning of the principle of "one person, one vote," which the court has said requires that political districts be roughly equal in population.

But it has left open the question of whether states must count all residents, including noncitizens and children, or only eligible voters in drawing district lines.

Q. What will happen in the upcoming case over the Obama health care overhaul?

A. The Supreme Court will be looking at the health care law for the fourth time since its 2010 enactment. This time, the focus is on the arrangement the Obama administration worked out to spare faith-based hospitals, colleges and charities from paying for contraceptives for women covered under their health plans, while still ensuring that those women can obtain birth control at no extra cost as the law requires.

The faith-based groups argue that the accommodation still makes them complicit in providing contraception to which they have religious objections.

A tie vote here would sow rather than alleviate confusion because the appellate courts that have looked at the issue have not all come out the same way.

That prospect suggests that Justice Anthony Kennedy will join the court's four liberal justices to uphold the arrangement, Supreme Court lawyer Thomas Goldstein said.

Q. Are there cases in which a tie would be a loss for the Obama administration?

A. The administration's plan to shield up to 5 million people from deportation was struck down by lower courts and a Supreme Court tie would leave that ruling in place. On abortion, the administration is backing a challenge to Texas' strict new regulations for abortion clinics. A federal appeals court upheld the regulations.

'In complete repose': Scalia died of natural causes, investigators say

February 15, 2016

Fox News - The body of late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was being flown to northern Virginia from Texas late Sunday after investigators determined there was no foul play in the 79-year-old's death.

Jose Amezcua, a manager at Sunset Funeral Homes, told Fox News that he personally loaded Scalia's casket onto a private plane bound for Fairfax, Va. at El Paso International Airport. Terry Sharpe, assistant director for operations at the airport, told the Associated Press a private plane carrying Scalia's body departed around 8 p.m. EST. Scalia's body was accompanied to the airport by U.S. marshals.

Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara told Fox News that she determined Scalia had died of natural causes. Guevara also said that she had spoken to local investigators and U.S. marshals, as well as Scalia's family and personal physician, before determining that an autopsy was not necessary.

Guevara said Scalia's doctor told her that the justice was suffering from minor ailments, but did not elaborate further.

The owner of the Cibolo Creek Ranch, the West Texas resort where Scalia spent his final hours, told reporters Sunday that Scalia was part of a group of about 35 weekend guests and had arrived at the ranch at around noon Friday.

John Poindexter said Scalia ate dinner with the group and was his "usual, personable self". According to Poindexter, Scalia retired to his room at around 9 p.m., saying he wanted a long night's sleep.

Scalia was found dead in his room Saturday morning. Poindexter said he was found "in complete repose" and added it was obvious that he had "passed away without any difficulty" in the night.

Guevara says the formal declaration of death was made at around 1:52 p.m. Saturday.

A procession that included about 20 law enforcement officers brought Scalia's body to the El Paso funeral home more than three hours from the ranch. Kristina Mills, a history teacher at nearby Chapin High School, came to the funeral home to pay her respects and brought flowers.

"Recognizing his contribution to serving our country just compelled me to come," she told the Associated Press. "I wanted to do yellow roses because for him dying in Texas. I didn't want his family to have bad memories of Texas."

In the nation's capital, President Barack Obama ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at the high court, where Scalia served for three decades, and other federal buildings throughout the nation and U.S. embassies and military installations throughout the world.

Even while the flags were being lowered, the campaign-year political heat began to rise over the vacancy on the nine-member court.

At issue is whether Obama, in his last year in office, should make a nomination and the Republican-led Senate should confirm that choice in an election year. Obama pledged Saturday that he would submit a nomination to replace Scalia on the court "in due time."

The Constitution gives the Senate "advice and consent" powers over a presidential nomination to the Supreme Court. Ted Cruz, one of the two GOP senators running for president, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the GOP-controlled Senate would be doing its job by blocking a nomination by a president with less than a year left in office.

"We're advising that a lame-duck president in an election year is not going to be able to tip the balance of the Supreme Court," Cruz said.

But the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would hold hearings on a nominee, said it would be "sheer dereliction of duty for the Senate not to have a hearing, not to have a vote."

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy told CNN's "State of the Union" that he believes McConnell is "making a terrible mistake. And he's certainly ignoring the Constitution."

Cibolo Creek Ranch owner recalls Scalia’s last hours in Texas

February 15, 2016

San Antonio Express-News - A first-time guest to the Cibolo Creek Ranch, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was animated and engaged during dinner Friday night, as one of three dozen invitees to an event that had nothing to do with law or politics, according to the ranch owner.

Just hours later, he would be found dead of apparent natural causes, which media outlets were reporting Sunday was a heart attack. 

"He was seated near me and I had a chance to observe him. He was very entertaining. But about 9 p.m. he said, 'it's been a long day and a long week, I want to get some sleep," recalled Houston businessman John Poindexter, who owns the 30,000-acre luxury ranch.

When Poindexter tried to awaken Scalia about 8:30 the next morning, the judge's door was locked and he did not answer. Three hours later, Poindexter returned after an outing, with a friend of Scalia who had come from Washington with him.

"We discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled," said Poindexter.

"He was lying very restfully. It looked like he had not quite awakened from a nap," he said.

Scalia,79, did not have a pulse and his body was cold, and after consulting with a doctor at a hospital in Alpine, Poindexter concluded resuscitation would have been futile. He then contacted federal authorities, at first encountering a series of answering services because he was calling on a weekend.

"Ultimately they became available and handled it superbly. They flew in by helicopter. They told me to secure the ranch, which I did until this morning," he said.

Scalia was just the latest newsworthy guest to visit the celebrity hideaway that covers 30,000 acres near the Chinati Mountains. Mick Jagger, Julia Roberts and Tommy Lee Jones have also partaken of its scenic vistas and luxury accommodations.

Established in 1857 by Milton Faver, known as the first Texas cattle baron west of the Pecos, the ranch retains 19th Century constructions, including "El Fortin de Cibolo," a primitive fort designed to protect settlers from Apaches.


In a special guest package offered last month, rooms went for $545 to $565 a night for two people, with a meal package and ranch tour included. Other activities include hiking, horseback riding, bird-watching and ATV tours.

Scalia, who was scheduled to return to Washington on Sunday, had little time to avail himself of the ranch's offerings. Poindexter said he had only met Scalia once before briefly, in Washington. Scalia came to the ranch because he was friends another guest.

Poindexter said he knew the other guests.

"All the guests were friends of mine, I paid for all of them. There were no politics, no jurisprudence in the slightest," he said.

"This was strictly a group of friends that the judge decided to join. He was coming with his son who had to drop out for reasons I don't' know.

"It was an honor to have him. He was widely admired. There were no speeches. He wasn't asked any hard questions, it was all about the outdoors and Texas, and what it's like to being a Supreme Court Justice," he said.

Scalia's personal financial disclosures show no previous trips to the ranch. The disclosures, posted on OpenSecrets.Org show that the justice made several trips to Texas since 2005 to speak at colleges and universities, including St. Mary's University in 2008.

Poindexter, 71, said Scalia's sudden death was both a "personal tragedy" for those at the ranch, and for the nation.

"All of us here saw him as a stalwart defender of our way of life in Texas, in a real sense," he said.

"It's a great loss. Having made that statement, if it was his time to go, he was surrounded by friends, in fairly nice setting, with a full tummy too. He said he was very happy to be invited so it could have been in worse circumstances," he said.

"It's caused all of us here to stop and think about life, how precious it is, and how it is so unexpectedly lost," he added.

The body of the Supreme Court justice was moved to an El Paso funeral home early Sunday.

The body was driven from Marfa and arrived around 2:30 a.m. at Sunset Funeral Homes, according to spokesman Chris Lujan.

Lujan said the funeral home was chosen by family of the justice, and at the advice of a family friend.

The El Paso County medical examiner's office said they hadn't received any information regarding the possibility of performing an autopsy.

Related:

• Inside the West Texas ranch where Antonin Scalia was found dead
• Body of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia arrives in El Paso
• Scalia: 'I probably would want to be a Texan'