Scalia

This biography examines Antonin Scalia, one of the most divisive figures to sit on the United States Supreme Court. Before reaching the bench, he enjoyed uninterrupted achievement for half a century, earning strong academic and legal credentials that carried him onto the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1982. In 1986 he edged out the more senior Robert Bork for a seat on the Supreme Court.

Many expected Scalia's brilliance and charisma to forge a lasting conservative majority and reshape American law, and he did transform the legal landscape through textualism and originalism. Yet the author argues that his conservatism drew as much from his traditional Catholic faith and partisan loyalties as from his reading of the Constitution. His clashes with swing justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy kept that majority from taking shape for close to twenty years. The book also presents his position as grounded in ethics rather than politics.

Scalia departed from the custom that justices communicate only through their opinions. Through outspoken speeches and provocative public appearances, he tested the ethical limits of the Court and drew partisan fire onto the institution itself.