The Slatest

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies at a Luxury Resort in West Texas

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in 2014.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead in a luxury resort in West Texas on Saturday morning, according to multiple reports. The San Antonio Express-News says Scalia was found dead “of apparent natural causes” while at the Cibolo Creek Ranch. Someone apparently went looking for Scalia Saturday morning after the 79-year-old Supreme Court justice failed to show up for breakfast and found him dead in his room. There was no immediate evidence of foul play, according to a federal official cited anonymously by the Express-News.

Local ABC affiliate KVIA is also reporting the news, claiming it received confirmation that Scalia “died in his sleep … after a day of quail hunting.”

Ted Cruz appears to be the first Republican presidential hopeful to come out with a statement mourning Scalia. “A champion of our liberties and a stalwart defender of the Constitution, he will go down as one of the few Justices who single-handedly changed the course of legal history,” Cruz said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement shortly after the news broke, calling Scalia “a man of God, a patriot, and an unwavering defender of the written Constitution and the Rule of Law.”

Scalia had been on the Supreme Court since 1986, when he was nominated by President Ronald Reagan.

This post was updated as more information became available.

See more of Slate’s coverage of Antonin Scalia.