Antonin Scalia’s rise from the son of immigrants to one of the most influential justices in American history was marked by discipline, brilliance, and conviction. Author James Rosen, whose book Scalia: Rise to Greatness explores the justice’s full story, returns to trace Scalia’s path from Harvard Law to the nation’s highest court.
After excelling in private practice and academia, Scalia entered government service during the Nixon administration, where his sharp legal mind helped shape policies that anticipated the computer age and modern telecommunications. His time as Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Legal Counsel placed him at the center of some of the most pressing constitutional questions of the 1970s. Later, his years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit brought him into close working friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, forming one of the most famous collegial relationships in American legal history.
Scalia’s judicial philosophy, grounded in originalism and textualism, would come to define his tenure on the Supreme Court after his nomination by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. For Scalia, the role of a judge was not to impose personal views but to apply the Constitution and the law as written, even when the results conflicted with his own preferences. His wit, passion, and unwavering belief in the limits of judicial power made him a towering figure in debates over federalism, individual rights, and the role of courts in American democracy.
