It’s no surprise for those Americans who are paying attention that the death of 79-year-old Justice Antonin Scalia, placed in something of a vacuum, creates a massive series of issues for not just the Supreme Court of the United States, but for the entire political tent in DC and the societal atmosphere of the United States.

That is to say, this is a huge political issue insofar as Demorats want to make as Left a nomination as possible, and Republicans seem to generally want the next president to make the nomination.

In a way these wants are immaterial insofar as Mr Obama has the lawful authority to make what is termed a “recess appointment” as the US Senate, which customarily approves presidential nominations for SCOTUS, is in recess and not slated to return until February 22nd, a week from today.

A recess appointment allows a sitting president to temporarily fill a court vacancy.  ScotusBlog writes:

The presidential authority at issue in this possible scenario exists, according to Article II, when the Senate has gone into recess and the vacancy a president seeks to fill remains.  Such an appointment requires no action at all by the Senate, but the appointee can only serve until the end of the following Senate session.  The president (if still in office) can then try again during a new Senate session, by making a new nomination, and that must be reviewed by the Senate.

The bottom line is that, if President Obama is to successfully name a new Supreme Court Justice, he will have to run the gauntlet of the Republican-controlled Senate, and prevail there.  The only real chance of that: if he picks a nominee so universally admired that it would be too embarrassing for the Senate not to respond.

The entire nature of the US Supreme Court is on the cusp of a major upheaval which could change the complexion and the bent of the court for at least an entire generation.  Both Demorats and Republicans realize the deadly-serious nature of the situation because, up to this point, a large number of critical cases heard by SCOTUS have hinged, literally, on the vote of one sole justice to the tune of 5-to-4.  Cases of huge societal import are about to be heard, to include the first major abortion case in a decade, affirmative action, immigration and voting rights.

Clearly, cases of paramount concern.

Of sufficient concern to kill a sitting justice?

Isn’t that just tinfoil-hat-wearing, Conspiracy Theory, full-tilt Moonbat Thinking?  To even write about it here?

I was on Twitter last night and corresponded back and forth with war correspondent Patrick Dollard (@PatDollard, whom I follow and follows me back), who made me aware of the fact that Justice Scalia is to be buried with no autopsy.  He questioned the wisdom of this.  He pointed out to me that the owner of Cibola Creek Ranch, where Justice Scalia had passed away, is John Poindexter and a Democrat donor who had been honored by Mr Obama at the White House.  Dollard also had questions:

Interesting questions, which became more interesting when I was pointed to an article from a local SanAntonio.com Texas website — not InfoWars and not ConspiracyZone.

The LATimes.com wrote about the discovery of the jurist:

Eventually, Poindexter entered the silent room, apprehensive.

“I was worried I was going to find something very tragic,” he said.

He spotted Scalia, still in his pajamas.

“He was in perfect repose in his bed as if he was taking a nap. His face wasn’t contorted or anything,” Poindexter said. “I went over and felt his hand and it was very cold, no pulse. You could see he was not alive.”

Then this:

Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara told WFAA Dallas that she pronounced Scalia dead due to a heart attack, but Lujan said he had not seen a death certificate reflecting that. Guevara did not immediately return calls Sunday.

The judge had not physically seen the body of Scalia.  CBSNews.com writes:

Chris Lujan, a manager for Sunset Funeral Homes, said about 20 law enforcement officers arrived early Sunday morning at the funeral home. The procession traveled more than three hours from the West Texas resort ranch where Scalia, 79, was found dead in his room Saturday morning.

Lujan says Scalia’s body was taken from the facility late Sunday afternoon. Lujan says it was to be taken to Virginia, but he didn’t know exactly where.

Lujan says an autopsy was not performed.

He says Scalia’s family didn’t think a private autopsy was necessary and requested his remains be flown home as soon as possible.

The county official who declared Scalia dead Saturday did not order an autopsy after finding he had died of natural causes. She said investigators told her there were no signs of foul play.

The Washington Post wrote:

It then took hours for authorities in remote West Texas to find a justice of the peace, officials said Sunday. When they did, she pronounced Scalia dead of natural causes without seeing the body and decided not to order an autopsy. A second justice of the peace, who was called but couldn’t get to Scalia’s body in time, said she would have ordered an autopsy.

As late as Sunday afternoon, there were conflicting reports about whether an autopsy would be performed, though officials later said Scalia’s body was being embalmed and there would be no autopsy. One report, by WFAA-TV in Dallas, said the death certificate would show the cause of the death was a heart attack.

On its face, at least in California, it isn’t out of the ordinary for the surviving family members to not call for an autopsy on a loved one — and the county coroner will generally agree — if the fact patterns are such that the loved one was under the care of a personal physician for a specific set of medical issues and there is good causal linkage made between the treated medical issues and circumstances of the death of the individual.  The family must agree and the physician must agree, with concurrence of the coroner and involved coroner’s investigator, for the dismissal of an autopsy.  In other words, was the death unforeseen?

Also interesting from, again, the Washington Post:

“It wasn’t a heart attack,” Guevara said. “He died of natural causes.”

Not a heart attack?  How do you know?  What was responsible?  Oh, that’s right, we won’t know, there won’t be an autopsy.  “The family did not believe an autopsy was necessary.”

Back to the MySanAntonion.com article:

When Poindexter tried to awaken Scalia about 8:30 the next morning, the judge’s door was locked and he did not answer. Three hours later, Poindexter returned after an outing, with a friend of Scalia who had come from Washington with him.

“We discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled,” said Poindexter.

My personal first thought: petechiae?

Why was that sentence left out of other articles?

Of additional interest is the fact that Scalia had apparently declined the presence of US Marshals (as bodyguards) while present at the Cibolo Creek Ranch in Texas.  That fact would not have been a secret to all.

John Poindexter, owner of the property, found the body of Anonin Scalia.

Patrick Dollard logically asked:

Frankly, with events as volatile as they are in DC, and in consideration of the constant 5-to-4 decisions from SCOTUS — with major cases soon on the horizon — my buzzing wheelhouse cannot but think of a man named William Colby.

And this: embalming fluids contain formaldehyde, various solvents and methanol.  All of those chemicals act as inhibitors and will interfere with any tox screen.

Not saying.

Just asking.

BZ

P.S.

In the meantime, Demorats use Scalia’s death as impetus for fund raising, and “modern liberals” gloat over his passing.

Good times.