This past weekend United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died under uncertain circumstances at a resort in Texas. Initial reports suggested Scalia died of a heart attack and then later clarification came to instead describe the cause of his death as the cessation of continued heart beats. Scalia was found with a pillow over his head wearing unwrinkled pajamas (archived). It has not yet been determined if an autopsy will be ordered to rule out the very real possibility of foul play.

Antonin Scalia's most pertinent legacy was his staunch defense of 4th amendment privacy rights, frequently rejecting "law enforcement" abuses of the American people. As technology has pushed the ways "law enforcement" could abuse the constitutional restraints on their power, Scalia was often a dissenting voice on the court insisting that adding a computer to an abuse of due process doesn't make it any less of an abuse. With the criminal overreach of law and law enforcement in the United States, the fourth amendment restrictions on police action were one of the few legal means of recourse available against injustice by the law.

The departure of Antonin Scalia drastically weakens the opportunity for actual justice in the Ross Ulbricht case should its appellate journey take it to the Supreme Court.