WASHINGTON (AP) – The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s voluminous public information file is remarkably short on any details related to his health, just a report of minor shoulder surgery in 2003.
But Scalia’s doctor said in a letter, parts of which were read to The Associated Press on Tuesday, that the justice suffered from coronary artery disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sleep apnea, high blood pressure and several other ailments that probably contributed to his death on Feb. 13 at age 79.
The public and reporters who cover the court were unaware that Scalia had any serious health problems before his death, except that he was overweight and was a regular smoker for most of his adult life.
That so little was known publicly about Scalia’s health is reflective of an institution that zealously guards the justices’ privacy and leaves to each justice how much to reveal.
Justices, especially older ones with serious health problems, might have little reason to say much of anything, said A.E. Dick Howard, a Supreme Court expert at the University of Virginia.