WASHINGTON — Should an autopsy have been performed on the body of Justice Antonin Scalia?

When a Texas justice of the peace certified that the 79-year-old Supreme Court justice had died from natural causes, questions immediately erupted. No autopsy had been performed, and the certification had been made without even an examination of the body. The unexpected death of a divisive public figure during an acerbic presidential campaign set off conspiracy theories and demands from political commentators that a pathologist perform an autopsy before Justice Scalia’s burial on Saturday to prove no foul play was involved.

Texas officials said they had obeyed the wishes of the Scalia family in not authorizing an autopsy after the justice was found Feb. 13 in his bed at a West Texas ranch, cold, pulseless, his hands almost folded on top of the sheets as if he were taking a nap. His doctor said he had chronic cardiovascular disease, and witnesses described a scene typical for death from heart disease.

An estimated 326,000 people of all ages experience cardiac arrest out of a hospital in the United States each year, and 90 percent of them die, according to the American Heart Association.

In many cases, autopsies are not performed on their bodies, because of family wishes, religious objections and other factors, including the expense of the procedure (often not covered by insurance) or the lack of available forensic pathologists to perform them. But some people argue that in the case of a prominent government official, the public has a right to know.