Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead at 79

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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the cornerstone of the court’s modern conservative wing, was found dead Saturday morning in Texas, where he had been on a hunting trip, according to a statement issued by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Scalia was nominated to the court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

His death comes as the court is set to hear its first major abortion case in nearly 10 years, and ahead of key cases on voting rights, affirmative action and immigration.

His sudden death came as he was about to mark his thirtieth year on the court; he is the longest-serving current member.

Scalia’s death sets up a major battle over his successor. Because of Scalia’s pivotal role on the court’s right wing, Republicans could block almost any nominee put forward by President Barack Obama. Scalia once said he would never retire during the tenure of any president whose nominee would try to dismantle his jurisprudence.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Scalia’s seat should not be filled until next president is sworn in. “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,” McConnell said in a statement. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which holds confirmation hearings, includes some of the chamber’s most conservative Republicans, including presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Supreme Court nominees need the support of 60 lawmakers to clear procedural hurdles in a chamber where the Democratic caucus holds only 46 seats. Any nominee to the high court will need the support of at least 14 Republicans to be confirmed.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Saturday night that the Senate should not act on any new Supreme Court Justice’s nomination until after the November presidential election.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), in a statement, said: “The President can and should send the Senate a nominee right away. With so many important issues pending before the Supreme Court. the Senate has a responsibility to fill vacancies as soon as possible. It would be unprecedented in recent history for the Supreme Court to go a year with a vacant seat. Failing to fill this vacancy would be a shameful abdication of one of the Senate’s most essential constitutional responsibilities.”

President Obama in California said he would not leave Scalia’s vacancy for his successor to fill, as some Republicans have suggested. Obama will mount a public campaign to pressure the Senate to confirm the third Supreme Court nominee of his presidency. “I plan to fulfill my constitutional responsibilities to nominate a successor in due time,” Obama said Saturday. “There will be plenty of time for me to do so, and for the Senate to fulfill its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote.” Obama will be the first president since Ronald Reagan, who nominated Scalia, to be tasked with filling three Supreme Court vacancies.

Obama’s first two appointments to the court were relatively easy because Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were replacing liberal-leaning justices. Just nine Republicans voted to confirm Sotomayor and four voted to confirm Kagan.

If Republicans leave the Scalia seat vacant until after the Nov. 8 elections, and into a new Congress, that sets up the possibility of a series of deadlocked four-to-four votes in which the ruling of the lower federal court would stand as the law of that particular region of the country.

Background. According to his court biography, Justice Scalia was born in Trenton, N.J. on March 11, 1936, and attended Georgetown University and the University of Fribourg in Switzerland before getting his law degree from Harvard. He practiced law in Cleveland in the 1960s and taught law at various schools including the University of Chicago and Stanford University. He held various government posts in the 1970s, including as an assistant attorney general from 1974-77. He and his wife Maureen had nine children.

NOTE: This column is copyrighted material; therefore reproduction or retransmission is prohibited under U.S. copyright laws.