Justice Antonin Scalia

Justice Scalia received his A. B. from Georgetown University in 1957. He graduated magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School in 1960, where he served as note editor of the Harvard Law Review. He then entered private practice until accepting a faculty appointment in 1967 at the University of Virginia School of Law. In 1971, he joined the Nixon administration serving in a number of positions. During the Ford administration, Justice Scalia served as assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel.

In 1977 Justice Scalia resigned his government position to focus on teaching. He accepted a position as a visiting scholar in residence at the American Enterprise Institute in 1977, and from 1977 - 1982 he served as professor of law at the University of Chicago. Justice Scalia also taught at Georgetown University and Stanford University as a visiting professor of law. In 1982, President Reagan appointed him to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In 1986, President Reagan nominated him to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Warren Burger's retirement and William Rehinquist's elevation to Chief Justice. The Senate confirmed Justice Scalia's nomination by a 98-0 vote.

Justice Scalia is a noted proponent of textualism, the view that the judicial interpretation of laws should be guided by the intent of legislators as expressed in the text of laws. His views are set out in A Matter of Interpretation, published in 1997 by the Princeton University Press. He has also written numerous law review articles and essays, many of which deal with judicial interpretation of laws and the judicial role.