U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the leading conservative voice on the high court, has died at the age of 79. He died of apparent natural causes, in his sleep after a day of quail hunting outside El Paso, Texas. He was staying at a private residence in the Big Bend area of South Texas. He was found dead Saturday morning when he did not appear for breakfast. Scalia, the longest-serving justice on the Supreme Court, taught at the University of Chicago from 1977 to 1982. He was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.

His death set off an immediate debate about whether President Barack Obama should fill the seat in an election year. President Barack Obama said he plans to fulfill his constitutional responsibility and nominate a successor to fill the vacancy. Obama also praised the late justice as a brilliant legal mind who influenced generation of lawyers and students.

Appointed to the court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, Scalia was a conservative icon who transformed the court by instilling in it his belief that judges should follow the precise words of the Constitution and not apply a modern interpretation. He was the first justice of Italian-American heritage and passed through confirmation with a unanimous vote.