FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2011 file photo, U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia looks into the balcony before addressing the Chicago-Kent College Law justice in Chicago. On Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed that Scalia has died at the age of 79. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
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WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 14: An American flag flies at half mast following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at the U.S. Supreme Court, February 14, 2016 in Washington, DC. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was at a Texas Ranch Saturday morning when he died at the age of 79. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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384802 07: (FILE PHOTO) This undated file photo shows Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, DC. (Photo by Liaison)
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WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 17: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia waits for the beginning of the taping of "The Kalb Report" April 17, 2014 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The Kalb Report is a discussion of media ethics and responsibility at the National Press Club held each month. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks during the American Bar Association (ABA) 59th annual "Antitrust Law Spring" meeting in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2011. AFP Photo/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
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Seated (L-R): Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony M. Kennedy, Chief Justice of the US John G. Roberts, Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer. Standing (L-R): Associate Justices Elena Kagan, Samuel Alito Jr., Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
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Story highlights
A Texas judge said Scalia was suffering from health issues
Donald Trump cites report that the judge was found with pillow on his face
(CNN) —
Three days after Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead in his room at a luxury hunting ranch in remote West Texas, the conspiracy theories about his passing continue to swirl.
A local judge’s decision not to order a post-mortem examination have triggered a round of questions ranging from scrutiny of the procedures to the bizarre.
Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who was found dead on Saturday, February 13, was one of the most influential conservative justices in history. He was 79.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
President Ronald Reagan announces the nomination of Scalia to the Supreme Court on June 17, 1986, as a result of Chief Justice Warren E. Burger's retirement.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia works in his office in Washington on July 28, 1986. Scalia, who was appointed in 1986, was the longest-serving justice on the Supreme Court.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings in Washington on August 6, 1986.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia, seen in a 1986 photo, was the first justice of Italian-American heritage and passed through confirmation with a unanimous vote.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Retiring Chief Justice Warren Burger, right, administers the oath to Scalia, as Scalia's wife, Maureen, holds the Bible on September 26, 1986. Scalia was the 103rd person to sit on the court.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
U.S. Supreme Court justices pay their respects in front of the casket of former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger during a prayer ceremony in the Great Hall at the Supreme Court Building in Washington on June 28, 1995.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia speaks to a crowd gathered at the Religious Freedom Monument in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to celebrate Religious Freedom Day on January 12, 2003. Scalia complained that courts have gone overboard in keeping God out of government.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia shakes hands with U.S. Marines Corps Maj. Gen. Robert C. Dickerson, commanding general, upon Scalia's arrival at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for an official visit on March 12, 2004.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia speaks to Presbyterian Christian High School students in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, April 7, 2004.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
The casket of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist lies in the Great Hall of the U.S. Supreme Court as Scalia and Sandra Day O'Connor, left, walk past on September 6, 2005, in Washington.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Members of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice David Souter, Justice William Kennedy, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justice John Paul Stevens file out of the U.S. Supreme Court Building to attend funeral services for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on September 7, 2005, in Washington.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Surrounded by security, Scalia walks in the annual Columbus Day Parade on October 10, 2005, in New York City.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia calls on people during a question-and-answer period at the American Enterprise Institute on February 21, 2006, in Washington. Scalia delivered the keynote address about foreign law and the debate about how it is used in American Law during the seminar called "Outsourcing Of American Law."
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Heather Myklegard, Scalia, Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. President George W. Bush walk through the Rose Garden before Kempthorne is sworn in as the new interior secretary at White House on June 7, 2006, in Washington.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia listens as U.S. President George W. Bush speaks at the the Federalist Society's 25th Anniversary Gala Dinner at Union Station in Washington, on November 15, 2007.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia speaks during the American Bar Association's 59th annual antitrust law spring meeting in Washington on March 31, 2011.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia testifies during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 5, 2011. The justice testified on "Considering the Role of Judges Under the Constitution of the United States."
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia and his wife, Maureen, arrive for a state dinner in honor of British Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House on March 14, 2012, in Washington.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia conducts a naturalization ceremony for 16 new U.S. citizens during the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's historic Gettysburg Address on November 19, 2013, at Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
U.S. President Barack Obama greets Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Sonia Sotomayor, Anthony Kennedy and John Roberts at Obama's inauguration for his second term of office.
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Photos: Justice Antonin Scalia's life in photos
Scalia speaks at the University of Minnesota as part of the law school's Stein Lecture series on October 20, 2015, in Minneapolis.
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Jim Mone/AP
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday referenced a report from the scene about Scalia’s body when asked on a radio show to comment on the possibility that Scalia may have been murdered and whether there should be an independent investigation into this death.
“They say they found a pillow on his face, which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow,” Trump said on conservative radio host Michael Savage’s show “The Savage Nation.” Savage called for “the equivalent of a Warren Commission”-style investigation into Scalia’s death.
In a statement Tuesday, the owner of the ranch clarified to CNN what he meant when he told the San Antonio Express the judge was found with a “pillow over his head.”
“I think enough disclosures were made and what I said precisely was accurate. He had a pillow over his head, not over his face as some have been saying,” John Poindexter, owner of the Cibolo Creek Ranch, where Scalia was found, told CNN over the phone. “The pillow was against the headboard and over his head when he was discovered. He looked like someone who had had a restful night’s sleep. There was no evidence of anything else.”
A U.S. law-enforcement source told CNN: “There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary in Justice Scalia’s room. There were no signs of foul play.”
The source added that law-enforcement agents know know the difference between someone dying in their sleep and being suffocated to death with a pillow.
But despite the assertions of law enforcement and local justice officials that all signs pointed to death from natural causes, questions about the process they followed have flared on social media.
The former head of criminal investigations for the Washington, D.C., police, poured fuel on the conspiracy theory fire.
“As a former homicide commander, I am stunned that no autopsy was ordered for Justice Scalia,” William O. Ritchie wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday, according to reports. After seeking to cast doubt on the conclusion of the deputy U.S. marshals who responded to a call from the ranch, he added, “My gut tells me there is something fishy going on in Texas.”
Ritchie told CNN on Tuesday that there is still time to act because Scalia isn’t lying in repose at the Supreme Court until Friday and his funeral isn’t until Saturday.
“At least you have a trained medical professional look and make an examination,” Ritchie said. “There is sufficient time to do that.”
The conspiracy theories surrounding the death run the gamut. In an “emergency transmission” posted on Facebook, Infowars’ Alex Jones said, “The question is was Anthony (sic) Scalia murdered?” while the site Harddawn.com speculated that “the Illuminati” might have been responsible, calling Leonard Nimoy — who died last year — “the wild card in this equation.” And a number of sites have made reference to a so-called “heart attack gun,” a secret CIA weapon that could, per their claims, have been used to kill Scalia.
At issue are a series of decisions made by the Texas county judge who took charge in the aftermath of Scalia’s passing when two justices of the peace sought out by those at the ranch could not make it to the site.
Reached by The Washington Post late Monday, Brian Monahan, a U.S. Navy rear admiral and the doctor who had reportedly cared for Scalia, declined to comment, citing “patient confidentiality.”
The county judge, Cinderela Guevara, didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Guevara was within her rights to declare Scalia dead without having seen the body under Texas law, the Washington Post said.
The U.S. Marshals Service coordinates with the Supreme Court police to provide security for the justices but they may decline protection. In this instance, the USMS detail was declined, so USMS personnel were not present at the ranch. Deputy U.S. Marshals from the Western District of Texas responded immediately upon notification of Scalia’s death.
Members of the high court do not routinely make their health information public, like presidents and presidential candidates.
Guevara did not order an autopsy – the same decision, according to The Post, that the Scalia family made when speaking to the El Paso funeral home that received his body.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said an autopsy should have been performed.
“Frankly, I’m surprised there was not an autopsy,” Turley told CNN’s Dugald McConnell. “I was also surprised at how casual the treatment of the scene appeared to be. I mean, you had someone pronounced dead over the description of marshals on the phone. This is not just anyone, this is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court, one of the highest officials in the judicial branch, therefore one of the highest officials in our government.”
Asked about the conspiracy theories, Turley said, “There’s obviously an insatiable desire from many people to look at facts and see something untoward or suspicious. The Internet doesn’t help that … We are living at a time where conspiracy theories are a virtual sport. 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. Nino Scalia did have medical problems, he was 79 years old.”
An earlier version of this story misidentified Jonathan Turley. He is a professor of law at George Washington University.