"Justice Scalia spent his last hours with members of this secretive society of elite hunters"

[Tracy Riddle]

I won't be a hypocrite like most of the corporate media at the moment. He wasn't a great man. He was a racist right-winger, a product of the reactionary days of the authoritarian Catholic Church. Scalia thought torture might be constitutionally okay. TV opinion-makers are telling us what a "strict constitutionalist" he was. Down the memory hole goes the Court stopping the recount in the 2000 Florida race. So much for the "founders' intent." And we're hearing about "what a good man he was." Sorry, he was a bully and a loudmouth on the bench.

The right-wing bloc on the Court is now whittled down to 3: Roberts, Thomas, Alito. There are 4 liberals, and 1 moderate-conservative (Anthony Kennedy). Even if Obama doesn't get to appoint a successor - which he has every right to, with 11 months left in office - we may see Kennedy more frequently siding with the 4 liberals - especially if Scalia isn't there bullying him into line. So we may see a lot of 5-3 decisions.

[Albert Doyle]

His defect comes from the reactionary neo-con movement that installed him mostly.


My personal beliefs deter me from celebrating anyone's death.

[Drew Phipps]

Scalia concurred in Citizens United, was against abortion and gay marriage, struck down key EPA regulations, voted for the stay on the Paris Global warming accords, and was a Federalist (consider that the Koch Brothers and other rich tax avoiders have coopted the Federalist Society, the Tea Party, and the radical right). So if you didn't like the direction the Supreme Court was heading, there might be room for a bit of optimism.

[Peter Lemkin]

I have no idea what he was like as a person to his close friends and family. Perhaps he was nice to his family and dog - but he was horrible to those who have tried to survive in my country. I won't miss him on the Supremes - which has become a very Rightwing Court. The Republicans will try to block any good replacement until they [think] they have someone like a Trump in. I don't celebrate his death, but I would celebrate his replacement by someone who actually cared about the Law, the Constitution and most of all the People. He did not believe in any of the foregoing; only the rule of the powerful, the power of money, oligarchy, and corporatism. He saw the Nation as he saw his conservative version of his Church...a hierarchy with the average person at the bottom, ruled from above by absolutist rule and rulers. Neither a small 'd' democrat nor a small 'r' republican was he. Packing of the Supreme Court with anti-democrats to circumvent the power of the Congress and Executive has a long history....in fact, as old as the Country. John Jay the first Supreme Court Justice infamously said, "Those who own American ought to govern it." Scalia was surely in that tradition. The myth that this Nation was founded on principles of real Democracy are just that - a myth. Sadly, lately, things have gotten even worse than the usual tension between dominant Oligarchy and a Potemkin Village of Democracy for show and to fool most of the People.

[Albert Doyle]

Scalia represents a consumation of the intention of the Kennedy assassination and installation of conservative power over democracy. The neo-cons claimed they were countering liberal "activist judges" and then proceeded to install the most damaging activist judges in American history. This neo Supreme Court abided a shift to CIA a power and tolerance of war criminals as top officers of government. The media coverage of Scalia's impact is insulting to the intelligence of any credible American and focuses on Scalia's boyish attachment to Ruth Ginsberg.

The church Scalia belonged to produced Pope John Paul II who openly spoke against the dangers of capitalism and did not approve of the Iraq invasion. I'm not sure we could say the same about a certain Middle Eastern country.

[Drew Phipps]

I have heard the first rumblings of suspicion surrounding Scalia's death on radio talk shows tonight. The official position, it is said, was that Scalia had a heart attack while he was taking a nap. I have also heard that his family declined an autopsy. I currently have no position or opinion on this matter, except a word of caution. We all know that conspiracies are the bread and butter of much of the discussion here. However, there will undoubtedly be people who attempt to profit off of this particular tragedy. There are also powerful economic interests who might benefit from tarring Obama, delaying a new Supreme Court appointment until after the election, or simply attempting to discredit the entire global warming movement.

So, be careful who you "get into bed with" here.

[Lauren Johnson]

The official position, it is said, was that Scalia had a heart attack while he was taking a nap. I have also heard that his family declined an autopsy.

To say that Scalia died of a heart attack is not possible without an autopsy. Can't be done.

Something is fishy.

[Drew Phipps]

Cause of death determinations are routinely made without autopsies (although they seem to have a 72% accuracy rate). Here is a study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14634467

I would point out that even though 72% doesn't sound all that great, the pathologists (without autopsies) have a far better accuracy rate distinguishing non-natural causes of death: 97%

[Tracy Riddle]

The man was 79, overweight and smoked. Big friggin' mystery here.

Redstate is calling time out on assassination theories. Apparently it is heating up the right-wing echo chamber.
http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016...ting-hand/

[Lauren Johnson]

Cause of death determinations are routinely made without autopsies (although they seem to have a 72% accuracy rate). Here is a study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14634467

I would point out that even though 72% doesn't sound all that great, the pathologists (without autopsies) have a far better accuracy rate distinguishing non-natural causes of death: 97%

Thanks for pointing that out Drew. I suppose the term should be probably cause of death.

I do think there should be an autopsy given his position in the government and his isolation. The family doesn't want an autopsy either.

I guess he was called home by his Master for a job well done. ::