James Rosen - Scalia: Rise to Greatness, 1936 to 1986

Scalia

Rise to Greatness 19361986

James Rosen

James Rosen has written a brilliant first installment in his planned two-volume biography of Justice Antonin Scalia, the most consequentialand compellingfigure in American law in modern times. Here at last, as in no previous biography, is the man I actually knew. In Rosens skillful and lively narrative, Antonin Scalia leaps off the page at his brilliant, energetic, and enthusiastic best.

Lee Liberman Otis, former Scalia student, former Scalia clerk at the court of appeals and the Supreme Court, co-founder and senior vice president of the Federalist Society

Revelatory and original, James Rosens rigorously researched biography of Antonin Scalias pre-Supreme Court years fills in gaps and reveals new information that had eluded previous biographers of one of the nations most consequential justices. With skillful digging in the archives and fresh interviews, Rosen has written a highly readable account that breaks news and challenges the conventional wisdom in almost every chapter.

Glenn Kessler, editor and chief writer, the Washington Posts Fact Checker

Deeply researched and superbly crafted, James Rosens Scalia brings to life a compelling and truly likable human being who transcended simple partisan stereotypes. Antonin Scalia was one of the most important and influential jurists in our history, and this immensely original and readable account of his pre-Court life will no doubt prove definitive.

David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Bearing the Cross and Rising Star

What made Antonin Scalia tick? James Rosen takes us inside the mind of the late Supreme Court justice in a deeply researched, compelling, and exuberant portrait of one of the most intriguing and larger-than-life figures in American history.

Evan Thomas, author of First: Sandra Day OConnor

Scalia: Rise to Greatness ranks among the finest biographies of a Supreme Court justice, or any judge, that I have ever read. Drawing on a wealth of new archival material and fresh interviews with many of Justice Scalias family members, friends, and colleagues, James Rosen brings vividly to life my frequent debate partner and friend, while shedding new light on a singular mind and career that continue to shape American law and society today.

Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law emerita at New York Law School and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union

Few biographers so fully inhabit their subjects as James Rosen, who in Scalia dives deep into the early life and career of one of the most consequential jurists in American history, exploring how he changed as he changed America. Scalia is filled with new documents, new insights, and new details that humanize Nino and enrich our understanding of his times.

Garrett M. Graff,New York Times bestselling author of Watergate: A New History

With his previous books on Watergate, Dick Cheney, and William F. Buckley, Jr., reporter James Rosen has emerged as a leading historian of contemporary conservatism. Now, in Scalia, an important and impressive volume, Rosen combines deep research and a perceptive eye on character to chart the rise of one of the key figures in the Supreme Courts rightward march over the past forty years. Countless puzzles are illuminated, including the roots of Antonin Scalias friendship across ideological lines with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the paradox that one of the most controversial justices of recent generations was vaulted onto the Supreme Court with a unanimous Senate vote. Rosens portrait is admiring without losing sight of Scalias human flaws. The result is an absorbing narrative of value to readers across the political spectrum.

John F. Harris, founding editor, POLITICO

James Rosens Scalia is a judiciously researched and well-written biography of our nations first Italian American to serve on the Supreme Court. This is legal history at its absolute finest.

Douglas Brinkley, Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities, professor of history at Rice University, and editor of The Reagan Diaries

In Scalia: Rise to Greatness, James Rosen achieves greatness of his own, with a vivid and lively account of Antonin Scalias formative years and relationships that shaped him into one of the most influential figures in American law. Through scores of personal interviews and exhaustive research, Rosen delivers new information and fresh details in such an engaging way you feel youre right there in the room, watching along, as this brilliant and charismatic young man matures into the larger-than-life Justice Scalia. A triumph of reporting and storytelling that adds to our understanding of a legal giant, Scalia does Scalia justice.

Jan Crawford, CBS News chief legal correspondent and New York Times bestselling author of Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court

Scalia: Rise to Greatness is triumphant. James Rosen combines deep research, dazzling literary flair, and keen analysis to capture the origin tale and larger-than-life personality of Antonin Scalia as he emerged as a national figure. A brilliant work that matches the brilliance of its subject, Scalia shimmers on every page with surprising revelations, spot-on character sketches of all the major and minor players, and an unerring grasp of the zeitgeist of the Reagan era. Entertaining, dramatic, and compelling, this is biography at its best and, without doubt, the best book about Justice Scalia ever written.

James L. Swanson,New York Times bestselling author of Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincolns Killer

Copyright 2023 by James Rosen

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, website, or broadcast.

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ISBN: 978-1-68451-227-0

eISBN: 978-1-68451-232-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921515

Published in the United States by

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Cover Design by John Caruso

Cover Photo Courtesy of the University of Virginia Law Archives

Author Photo by John Stansfield

For Lorraine and Joe Durkin,

Jenn Barron, Ryan Durkin, and Quinn Durkin

MEG SCALIA BRYCE: After his death, when people described him as larger than life, he was. And he was that way to us.

ROSEN: And he was cognizant that he was that way, right?

MEG SCALIA BRYCE: Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. I mean, he was putting on a showbut it was a great show.