It’s been just four days since Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead at a West Texas ranch, and already his death has generated conspiracy theories promoted by “truthers” and Donald Trump alike.
Advertisement
“They say they found a pillow on his face, which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow”, Trump said Tuesday during an interview on Michael Savage’s radio show “The Savage Nation”.
The theories first began to swirl after John Poindexter, who owns the ranch where Scalia was staying, said he found the jurist under a pillow, although he looked “as if he was taking a nap”.
As previously reported, Scalia was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1986, and was the longest-serving current justice.
The following morning, when he did not show up for breakfast, Poindexter and aother person knocked on the door to Scalia’s expansive “El Presidente” suite and found him.
Poindexter, a third-generation Texan and highly successful Houston manufacturing magnate, declined to identify Scalia’s guests or comment on who else was in attendance. A heart attack seems to be the most probable cause, and local media are reporting that his death certificate will read ‘myocardial infarction.’ Other media reports say the cause will be deemed natural.
The decision not to order an autopsy has prompted skeptical questions from law enforcement, like William O. Ritchie, former head of criminal investigations for District of Columbia police.
“I can’t give you an answer”, he continued.
And voila! Another conspiracy theory was birthed. Scalia’s burial site has not been announced.
Authorities said that Scalia was pronounced dead over the phone because of the ranch’s remote location and because they had trouble finding a justice of peace on Saturday.
The criticisms prompted ALIPAC to send out a release Wednesday defending its call on Sunday for an immediate autopsy and toxicology report on Scalia’s body.
Members of the high court do not routinely make their health information public, like presidents and presidential candidates. She said she spoke to Scalia’s physician and wanted to clarify details of his death before deciding whether to order an autopsy. Guevara also said that “no autopsy was necessary”. “I was also surprised at how casual the treatment of the scene appeared to be”.
The body of Justice Antonin Scalia will lie in repose in the Supreme Court’s Great Hall on Friday.
And honestly, it may not be quite right to call the Scalia-was-murdered conspiracy theory a fringe theory at all. The fact that you had a justice who died and was left in his room for hours doesn’t mean this is some Hollywood script. What it probably means is that a justice passed away in his room and was left for hours.
Advertisement
Roberts issued his report at the end of a year in which more than 100 law professors asked Congress to require Supreme Court justices to abide by an ethical code of conduct after it emerged that Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas had attended private political meetings sponsored by billionaire conservative donors David and Charles Koch.
