Justice Scalia dead at 79

According to El Paso, Texas ABC-7 news source KVIA, Justice Antonin Scalia, the 79-year-old Supreme Court Justice died in his sleep last night after a day of quail hunting at Cibolo Creek Ranch outside of Marfa, Texas.

According to KVIA, the Justice did not report feeling ill and retired to his room after dinner. The source, who was traveling with Scalia, told ABC-7 an El Paso priest has been called to Marfa.

In an Associated Press story late last year, Scalia was cited for his scathing dissents, and his “textualist” views on applying the Constitution. But in a speech to Georgetown Law students in November [2015], in which he said that the logic protecting gay rights might just as easily apply to child molesters.

The Justice was quoted last year, "Saying that the Constitution requires that practice, (same-sex marriage) which is contrary to the religious beliefs of many of our citizens, I don't know how you can get more extreme than that," he said. "I worry about a Court that's headed in that direction."

Scalia has dissented on every gay rights decision that has been considered, beginning with Romer v. Evans, and continuing through last year’s marriage decision in Obergefell.

Scalia was the longest-serving current Justice on the Supreme Court. He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

The Gayly – 2/13/2016 – 4:28 PM CST