Media sources out of Texas are reporting that senior United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead on the grounds of a luxury resort in West Texas, citing information from federal officials.

He reportedly died of natural causes at the age of 79 as a guest at the Cibolo Creek Ranch in the “Big Bend” region south of Marfa.

This from the website My San Antonio:

According to a report, Scalia arrived at the ranch on Friday and attended a private party with about 40 people. When he did not appear for breakfast, a person associated with the ranch went to his room and found a body.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said he was among those notified about Scalia’s death.

“I was told it was this morning,” Biery said of Scalia’s death. “It happened on a ranch out near Marfa. As far as the details, I think it’s pretty vague right now as to how,” he said. “My reaction is it’s very unfortunate. It’s unfortunate with any death, and politically in the presidential cycle we’re in, my educated guess is nothing will happen before the next president is elected.”

The U.S. Marshal Service, the Presidio County sheriff and the FBI were involved in the investigation.
Officials with the law enforcement agencies declined to comment.

Scalia, born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1936, attended Georgetown University and Harvard Law School. He was named to sit on the highest court in the land in 1986 by then-President Ronald Reagan. He had nine children with his wife Maureen Scalia McCarthy, who he married in 1960.

Here’s what a former high school classmate had to say about him once, in his New York City days right before he went away to Washington, DC to study:

This kid was a conservative when he was 17 years old. An archconservative Catholic. He could have been a member of the Curia. He was the top student in the class. He was brilliant, way above everybody else.

The late justice once wrote that there is no constitutional right to abortion and used the terms “jiggery-pokery” and “pure applesauce” in a dissent (regarding Obamacare).

Stay tuned to the blog for more on this developing story.