Antonin Scalia.

Born in Trenton, New Jersey, on March 11, 1936, Antonin Scalia was the only child of Salvatore Scalia, a professor of Italian at Brooklyn College, and Catherine Scalia, a schoolteacher. He attended Xavier High School, a Catholic military prep school in Manhattan, then studied history at Georgetown University, and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. He also spent a year at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland as a Fulbright scholar.

President Ronald Reagan nominated Scalia to the Supreme Court in 1986, and the Senate confirmed him 98-0. His opinions in cases like District of Columbia v. Heller 2008 and United States v. Windsor 2013 shaped American law. He popularized originalism as a judicial philosophy, arguing that constitutional text should be interpreted in its original public meaning. He authored 17 books, including Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts, and taught at the University of Chicago Law School before his appointment.

Scalia married Maureen McCarthy, and together they had nine children: Ann Forrest, Eugene, John, Catherine, Mary Clare, Paul, Matthew, Christopher, and Margaret. He was a devout Roman Catholic who attended daily Mass when possible. He had twenty-eight grandchildren. His son Eugene Scalia later served as U.S. Secretary of Labor.

Scalia’s theory of originalism has become a dominant force in American jurisprudence, influencing subsequent Supreme Court appointments. President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2018. The New Jersey Hall of Fame inducted him in 2021. He is most remembered for his sharp wit and unwavering textualism in interpreting the Constitution.