United States Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, a friend of Mississippi Governor, Phil Bryant, died of apparent natural causes on Feb. 13, in Shafter, Texas,
According to Gov. Bryant, Scalia was a friend to Mississippi. The judge visited Mississippi several times to enjoy the wildlife and hunting in the agricultural state.
“U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, was the greatest legal mind of our time and will be missed by all who love this nation and what it stands for,” Gov. Bryant wrote on his public Facebook page. “On a personal note, I will miss our duck hunts in the Mississippi Delta. He enjoyed our great state and its people. Mississippi has lost a friend.”
Born on March 11, 1936, in Trenton, New Jersey, Scalia became a lawyer after attending Harvard Law School. Later, Scalia became a professor and eventually the U.S. Attorney General under U.S. Presidents Nixon and Ford. Scalia was appointed to the SCOTUS bench in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. Gov. Bryant remembers Scalia as a “joyful spirit and a brilliant mind.”
“These are the times I will always cherish. We have lost a great man who loved this country and the great outdoors,” Gov. Bryant said in another public Facebook post. “A joyful spirit and a brilliant mind. Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, was humble and honorable. The world is now a different place without him and conservatives have lost our legal champion.”
President Obama already has several potential successors in mind to replace Scalia’s lifetime appointment on the SCOTUS bench.
Potential SCOTUS Justice Successors:
Sri Srinivasan: (DEM) born in Chandigarh, India; U.S. Court of Appeals judge for D.C. circuit
Merrick Garland: (DEM) born in Chicago, Illinois; Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit
Loretta Lynch: (DEM) born in Greensboro, N.C.; U.S. Attorney General
Neal Katyal: (DEM) born in Chicago, Illinois; Georgetown law professor, who spent one year as Obama’s acting solicitor general
Jeh Johnson: (DEM) born in New York, New York; Homeland Security Secretary
Donald Verilli Jr.: (DEM) born in New Rochelle, New York;
Eric Holder: (DEM) born in New York, New York; former U.S. Attorney General
SCOTUS Proceedings
Each SCOTUS justice is appointed by the current president of the United States for a lifetime appointment, unless the justice retires. Republican presidential nominees and U.S. senators are urging congress to block any appointment of a new SCOTUS justice since it is an election year.
Many congressmen and congresswomen already refer to President Obama as a “lame duck” president. The term is usually placed on a president’s fourth year of office if the president is not returning to office because the president is limited to what he or she can do in a matter of time during the fourth year of the presidency.
However, President Obama plans to appoint a new SCOTUS justice in “due time.” It will be his third time to appoint a SCOTUS justice during his presidency. The first two justices appointed by President Obama were Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan.
Several controversial cases are to be heard by SCOTUS this year including abortion rights and illegal immigrants’ rights to stay in America or be deported.
Current and Retired SCOTUS Justices React to Scalia’s Death:
As the longest serving justice out of the nine current SCOTUS bench, Scalia served for 30 years.
Justice John G. Roberts Jr.:
“On behalf of the Court and retired Justices, I am saddened to report that our colleague Justice Antonin Scalia has passed away. He was an extraordinary individual and jurist, admired and treasured by his colleagues. His passing is a great loss to the Court and the country he so loyally served. We extend our deepest condolences to his wife Maureen and his family.”
Justice Anthony Kennedy
“In years to come any history of the Supreme Court will, and must, recount the wisdom, scholarship, and technical brilliance that Justice Scalia brought to the Court. His insistence on demanding standards shaped the work of the Court in its private discussions, its oral arguments, and its written opinions.”
“Yet these historic achievements are all the more impressive and compelling because the foundations of Justice Scalia’s jurisprudence, the driving force in all his work, and his powerful personality were shaped by an unyielding commitment to the Constitution of the United States and to the highest ethical and moral standards.”
“In the fullness of time Justice Scalia’s beautiful family will be sustained by the force and dynamism of his intellect and personality, attributes that were so decent and so powerful; but now they mourn. We give them assurances of our deepest sympathy and our lasting friendship.”
Justice Clarence Thomas
“Justice Scalia was a good man; a wonderful husband who loved his wife and his family; a man of strong faith; a towering intellect; a legal giant; and a dear, dear friend. In every case, he gave it his all to get the broad principles and the small details right. Virginia and I are deeply saddened by his sudden and untimely death. Our prayers and love go out to Maureen and the Scalia family. It is hard to imagine the Court without my friend. I will miss him beyond all measure.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:
“Toward the end of the opera Scalia/Ginsburg, tenor Scalia and soprano Ginsburg sing a duet: ‘We are different, we are one,’ different in our interpretation of written texts, one in our reverence for the Constitution and the institution we serve. From our years together at the D.C. Circuit, we were best buddies. We disagreed now and then, but when I wrote for the Court and received a Scalia dissent, the opinion ultimately released was notably better than my initial circulation. Justice Scalia nailed all the weak spots—the ‘applesauce’ and ‘argle bargle’—and gave me just what I needed to strengthen the majority opinion. He was a jurist of captivating brilliance and wit, with a rare talent to make even the most sober judge laugh. The press referred to his ‘energetic fervor,’ ‘astringent intellect,’ ‘peppery prose,’ ‘acumen,’ and ‘affability,’ all apt descriptions. He was eminently quotable, his pungent opinions so clearly stated that his words never slipped from the reader’s grasp.
“Justice Scalia once described as the peak of his days on the bench an evening at the Opera Ball when he joined two Washington National Opera tenors at the piano for a medley of songs. He called it the famous Three Tenors performance. He was, indeed, a magnificent performer. It was my great good fortune to have known him as working colleague and treasured friend.”
Justice Stephen G. Breyer:
“Nino Scalia was a legal titan. He used his great energy, fine mind, and stylistic genius to further the rule of law as he saw it. He was man of integrity and wit. His interests were wide ranging as was his knowledge about law, this Nation and its Constitution. He loved his family. He also loved ideas, music, and the out of doors. He shared with us, his colleagues, his enthusiasms, his humor, his mental agility, his seriousness of purpose. We benefitted greatly. His contribution to the law was a major one. Our hearts go out to Maureen and his family. We have lost a fine colleague and a very good friend. We shall miss him hugely.”
Justice Samuel Alito:
“Martha-Ann and I are deeply saddened by the terrible news. Nino was a remarkable person, and I feel very honored to have known him and to have had him as a colleague. He was a towering figure who will be remembered as one of the most important figures in the history of the Supreme Court and a scholar who deeply influenced our legal culture. His intellect, learning, wit, and memorable writing will be sorely missed, and Martha-Ann and I will deeply miss him as a friend. We will keep Nino, Maureen, and their family in our prayers.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor:
“My colleague Nino Scalia was devoted to his family, friends, our Court, and our country. He left an indelible mark on our history. I will miss him and the dimming of his special light is a great loss for me. My thoughts are with Maureen, his children, and his grandchildren.”
Justice Elena Kagan:
“Nino Scalia will go down in history as one of the most transformational Supreme Court Justices of our nation. His views on interpreting texts have changed the way all of us think and talk about the law. I admired Nino for his brilliance and erudition, his dedication and energy, and his peerless writing. And I treasured Nino’s friendship: I will always remember, and greatly miss, his warmth, charm, and generosity. Maureen and the whole Scalia family are in my thoughts and prayers.”
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (Retired):
“I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia. Nino was a tireless public servant who left an indelible mark on the Court and on our jurisprudence. His gifts of wisdom, wit, and wordsmithing were unparalleled, and he will be sorely missed.”
Justice John Paul Stevens (Retired):
“Nino Scalia was a good friend, a brilliant man with an incomparable sense of humor, and as articulate as any Justice who ever served on the Court. He has had a major impact on the development of the law, and earned the respect of all his colleagues. We will all miss him.”
Emily Newton is a staff writer for hottytoddy.com and the editor of Experience Oxford magazine. She can be reached at emily.newton@hottytoddy.com.
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