NY TIMES: Antonin Scalia, Justice on the Supreme Court, Dies at 79

Antonin Scalia, Justice on the Supreme Court, Dies at 79

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/us/antonin-scalia-death.html

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. A spokeswoman for the United States Marshals Service, which sent personnel to the scene, said there was nothing to indicate the death was the result of anything other than natural causes.

Justice Scalia began his service on the court as an outsider known for caustic dissents that alienated even potential allies. But his theories, initially viewed as idiosyncratic, gradually took hold, and not only on the right and not only in the courts.

Justice Scalia last month during the Bank Markazi argument. Counsel of Record Jeffrey Lamken at the podium

Justice Scalia far right, in the 1980's soon after he was elevated to the Supreme Court

Article about the deep and rather unique friendship between Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Antonin Scalia

Ginsberg on Scalia: "I disagreed with most of what he said, but I loved the way he said it."

LINK

http://www.bustle.com/articles/141707-this-one-rbg-quote-perfectly-defines-scalias-legacy
For example, one of their most recent disagreements on the bench was on the topic of same-sex marriage. While Ginsburg voted in favor in last year's landmark Supreme Court decision to strike down gay marriage bans throughout the country and has personally officiated multiple same-sex marriages, Scalia wrote a scathing dissent, which has taken on a certain infamy in its seething anger. Despite these different views, Scalia and Ginsburg had a deep mutual respect for each other. Unsurprisingly, Ginsburg was often questioned about how she could maintain this highly reverential friendship, and her simple response explains the camaraderie perfectly. At a George Washington University event in 2015 when both shared the stage, she said: "I disagreed with most of what he said, but I loved the way he said it."