Antonin Scalia, an influential and proactive member of the Supreme Court, passed away this week at the age of 79.

Scalia was appointed to the court in 1986 by President Ronald Regan after having been a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, as a result of Chief Justice Warren E. Burger’s resignation. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 98 to 0.

A political conservative, he was an opponent of abortion, supported the death penalty, opposed restrictions on gun ownership, and voted against freeing prisoners from Guantanmo Bay.  Despite his right wing views, he was not considered an ‘automatic’ conservative and came to his own conclusions based on his principles, and often challenged perceptions that he was racist, as in City of Richmond v JA Croson Co.

Scalia had the decisive fifth vote out of nine judges that guaranteed conservative dominance of the court for the past 30 years. He made possible a whole string of decisions, not least that in the Citizens United case which opened the gates to a flood of money in American politics, or Bush v Gore, the 2000 Florida election case which brought George W Bush into the White House.

Antonin Scalia, US Supreme Court Justice, was found dead on Sunday 14th February in his room at a hunting resort by the owner. His death was sudden, despite Scalia suffering from a range of chronic medical conditions. The cause of death was announced as natural causes and no autopsy will be performed.

Read more

The Death of Antonin Scalia; Chaos, Confusion and Conflicting Reports
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/texas-tv-station-scalia-died-of-a-heart-attack/2016/02/14/938e2170-d332-11e5-9823-02b905009f99_story.html

Obituaty; Antonin Scalia
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/15/antonin-scalia-obituary

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dies; legal and political worlds react
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/feb/13/supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-dead-at-79