Antonin Scalia, Justice on the Supreme Court, Dies at 79. Continue reading the main story Video Justice Antonin Scalia, whose transformative legal theories, vivid writing and outsize personality made him a leader of a conservative intellectual renaissance in his three decades on the Supreme Court, was found dead on Saturday at a resort in West Texas. He was 79. “He was an extraordinary individual and jurist, admired and treasured by his colleagues,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a statement confirming Justice Scalia’s death.
“His passing is a great loss to the Court and the country he so loyally served.” The cause of death was not immediately released. Justice Scalia began his service on the court as an outsider known for caustic dissents that alienated even potential allies. Continue reading the main story OPEN Timeline Timeline: Justice Antonin Scalia: His Life and Career He was, Judge Richard A. All of these views took shape in dissents. Continue reading the main story That 2008 decision, District of Columbia v. Family Influence Photo. Antonin Scalia obituary: conservative supreme court justice dies aged 79 | US news. Antonin Scalia, a supreme court justice who has died aged 79, relished his position as a bulwark resisting the social changes sweeping America over a generation. The former law professor was fiercely and flamboyantly conservative on “culture wars” issues from abortion and gay marriage to gun laws and capital punishment.
He believed the constitution should be a fixed point in a changing world. It made him a bête noire of liberals and progressives and a sitting target for satirists such as Jon Stewart. Nicknamed “Nino”, the devout Catholic was proud to be the first Italian American on the supreme court. He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and built a reputation as one of America’s most influential and quick-witted conservative jurists. Scalia once described his victories in the supreme court as “damn few” yet they did include a pivotal moment in history.
This, he argued, made many issues of the day simple to resolve. He and his wife, Maureen, had nine children. Scalia's relationships with opponents should serve as a model in US politics | Emily Zanotti | Opinion. US supreme court justice Antonin Scalia was not simply a paragon of American jurisprudence: he was an incredible legal scholar, a devout Catholic (his appointment marked the first time that two Catholics served concurrently on the US supreme court), a conservative stalwart, a great teacher and a dedicated family man. His loss will not only be felt by the people whose lives he impacted through judicial proceedings, but by those he met and those he taught. For many of us, his loss is staggering and personal. I was lucky to not only have met Scalia, but to have had him for lectures in law school at the Ave Maria School of Law – a Catholic, conservative school whose curriculum Scalia was initially instrumental in formatting.
Many obituaries today will consider Scalia strictly as a jurist, and he was certainly a rare one. Theirs was a relationship that could serve as a model for those in American politics today, in which the tenor has grown increasingly partisan and hopelessly personal. Justice Scalia's legacy: blistering zingers and a more partisan America | Scott Lemieux | Opinion. When Antonin Scalia was nominated to the US supreme court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, the first Italian-American to serve on the Court was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. It may well be a year – or several – before the Senate confirm anybody to replace Scalia, who died on Saturday at the age of 79.
But that vote will almost assuredly not be unanimous, regardless of who the eventual nominee is: the politics of US supreme court appointments have become as polarized as the rest of American politics. And Scalia himself played a significant role in that very polarization. Scalia’s legacy will be extensively celebrated by conservatives – Marco Rubio spoke for orthodox Republican opinion when he called Scalia one of the greatest justices in US supreme court history at Saturday’s Republican debate – and derided by liberals, many of whom wasted little time celebrating his demise and speculating how his absence on the court could affect future cases.
Antonin Scalia, longest serving US Supreme Court judge, dies aged 79. Justice Scalia, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1986, was one of four conservative judges on the nine-strong Supreme Court. He was the only child of a Sicilian college professor from New York and became the first Italian-American to be appointed to the court.
He was a frequent source of frustration to liberals and last year issued a nine-page dissent when the court legalised same-sex marriage across the US, describing the majority decision as a “judicial Putsch” that posed a “threat to American democracy”. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in New York in 2012 Photo: Reuters John Roberts, US Chief Justice, confirmed his death "He was an extraordinary individual and jurist, admired and treasured by colleagues," he said. Justice Scalia was one of the judges who dissented when the Supreme Court declined to strike down Obama Care - the Affordable Care Act.
Justice Scalia added the decision was "interpretive jiggery-pokery," a "defence of the indefensible" and "pure applesauce. " Antonin Scalia; Death of a Supreme Court Justice - Political Investigations. 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. Read more.