At first, my publisher, editor, and i were thinking should we just call it scalia but we wanted something larger because he is larger. It talks about his italian ba background. And the originalism is him looking back at what they founders wanted in the document and how it should be interpreted today. It was the committee, the title of the original, reflecting him as an original, and a first generation and a proponent of the originalism theory. There is no one like him ever on the Supreme Court. Is that what you thought about . So many people are intrigued by my choice. The first biography i did was Justice Oconnor but for people that dont know the court he is one of the nine, a conservative, and outspoken but why focus on him . He is an original. You know firsthand and have been following him and close to him for decades. He is so distinctive in style but he is distinctive among his career as well. You mention the opera. I think of Justice Scalia as someone who might have been an opera. He is italian, larger than life and when he is in a rom everyone listens to him and talks to him. That is true in the Supreme Court. You have a whole chapter about his oral argument and what it is like to be in the Supreme Court with him. It is funny you hone in on the opera because you can see him almost conducting something. There were times i would go watch him speak and he would stand up and i would start to laugh. He has this show mans movement about him that is opretic and chemical. Thomas said something about the way Justice Scalia composes opinions is sitting down at the computer, putting on Classical Music or opera, and conducts like he is doing a symphony. You didnt think he had four law clerks that write opinions and he signs his name to them. As you know, he relies on his clerks for the research, but his writing style is distinctive so we can hardly be influenced by clerks or have them do his own first draft. Justice steven said i will leave the bench when i stop doing my first draft. Justice scalia is like that and the writing shows i love to pick up an opinion from Justice Scalia whether it be attacks, bankruptcy, or the most obscure topic and he brings it to life. You talk about how he is able to write and not everybody law can be boring. It is not boring when he writes. Is that right . He is very engaged. That is what drew me to him. He is interested in the world at large. He would respond to my questions and ask other questions with different topics and questions asked about him. Tell me about his biography and his upbringing, education and parents. He has an unusual story because hes the only child from this catholic family. His mother came from a family of seven but the only one who bore a child. His father, who came from sicily, was one of two kids and the only one who had an offspring. His father knew no english when he moved here but went to college and got a degree in romance language and went on to be a professor. He set high standards for his son. His mothers side was out there. Everything was a sensation between the parents in terms of where they came from. In his mothers family they always had a piano and to this day he loves to sit down and play the piano. His parents were married 67 years before he came along. He was very much a wanted and doted on child of not just his parents but the aunts and uncles. He went to georgetown, harvard law, and justice of the United States but his mother and father passed away before he was elevated to the Supreme Court. Did he teach law . Yes, he taught mostly at the university of chicago but he had taught a little at Georgetown University but at stanford as well for a full calendar year. He liked it but didnt get into it as much as expected. It was easy to him to leave it. He was really excited about something you enjoyed. He liked being in the executive branch tell us about that. He started in the Nixon Administration and started with a new office created while he was there. The office of telecommunication policy. He was general counsel for that. Then he moved into more of an administrative position where he was in charge of short of ideas to streamline the burr. President nixon nomitanatominan Richard Nixon for the attorney general and was nominated but not appointed until gerald ford. He cut his teeth in the wake of watergate in the Ford Administration in his first assignment as an assistant attorney general was to determine who owned the watergate papers. No easy task. But the opinion was nixon owned those tapes and other documents that the Congress Quickly reversed and that is why the American Public has access. Who did he replace as assistant attorney general . A man named by the name robert dixon. And at the time, a person you are familiar with, Larry Silverman who is a federal Appeals Court judge here in washington, d. C. , mr. Silverman was Deputy Attorney general. Not sure his exact title but his job was to find a new assistance for the office of council and a man by the name john rose this is like your life, too because you know the players. He was a long time aid in the nixon and Ford Administration and he had the idea this fellow an Antonin Scalia might feel comfortable in this crazy postwatergate world. This was a time when a lot of republicans were scrambling to get out. The place was employ imploding. It was a difficult, chaotic time in the administration. They were looking for someone who would not be afraid. They found the nonwimp. Did they every. He came in and cut his teeth in the wake of watergate. Larry silverman said he was never drawn to someone so immediately as he was to now Justice Scalia. They had a good time together. I thought it was interesting william ren quist was assistant attorney general under nixon in the office of Legal Council. Yes, bill had that job but he in january of 1972 is successfully appointed to the Supreme Court. So there is a little gap between when bill rain quest left the job and scalia came in did they know one another . Any relationship . No, they certainly knew each other but it not dealt with each other much. They talked to people like stevens who was nominate d skwu pointed by nixon to the sev circuit all knew each other but did not know each other really. John paul stevens was vetted when he was voted to the Supreme Court and that helped ed leave who became the attorney general. You can imagine this is where Justice Scalia essentially comes of age in the administration. Tell me a little bit about the office of Legal Council. I know a little bit about it he was a professor, then served as the counselor. The job is to be the constitutional lawyer to the president. To see what is constitutional and what is not. Many of our people know of the office because they released the torture memos of what is going on with Guantanamo Bay detainees and other offices going forward. Other than that, it is rarely in the headlines. It is a brainier office and not prominent for the public but prominent among lawyers because it draws someone who is very much interested in the constitution and the intellectual side of the constitution. A small office that produces matters relating to constitutional law and it is the Training Ground for a person like bill ren quest or Antonin Scalia to be on the Supreme Court because you say that office deals with a lot of things that might come from the Supreme Court. As head of the office, he sparred with members of congress and was going up to testify before people like ed musky, people like robert dryman very strong liberals who were skeptical of what the Ford Administration was doing in terms of executive privilege and keeping the documents secret. He loved sparring. Do you think he held his own . I have the transcripts so he did hold his own. But when i talked to him about it he said i could have done it with one hand tied behind my back when as a Justice Scalia think to say he must have left at the end of the Ford Administration and then the Carter Administration came along and then Reagan Administration came along and about 56 years . When was it in the Reagan Administration. President reagan took office in january of 1981 when did they put the finger on Justice Scalia to become an Appeals Court judge . I said he left in 76 but he left in 77 and goes to a conservative think tank and works his way to the university of chicago. He wanted to go into the Reagan Administration sooner than he was able. And this is someone you know, William Prince smith, was on the look out for a solicitor general, that is as you know because you held it, the governments top lawyer before the Supreme Court and office viewed with dignity. And all of men who have done that, and we have the first lady doing it, but it is a brainy and intellectual job before the correspondent. Then professor sckalia wanted that job and thought he would get it. But rex thorn was up for the job as well. And as bill smith writes in his m m m m m memoirs he said it was a close call but i didnt chose scalia. And scalia used the word bitter was he was so close and it was a job that was taylor made. That came in spring of 81. That is when rex lee got the job. Then the Reagan Administration offered Justice Scalia a job on the seventh circuit which is based in chicago. He is living in chicago and doesnt like it. He and his wife were east coast folks and they didnt enjoy their time in chicago that much and wereegwereege were eag get back to the east coast. So we he is being offered a lifetime appoint to the court of appeals and he holds out hoping he will get a job on the appeals side in washington, d. C. The court here handled Administrative Law and he was good at that. He was taking a chance. He had an operative hand versus one that may not come. But in 1982 he is appointed by Ronald Reagan to the u. S. Court of appeals. The washington, d. C. Circuit is considered to be the Second Highest Court in the land and equal with other federal courts but it is in washington and handles cases many which go to the Supreme Court. Right. And some people would say if he had became solicitor general and taken those tough stands he may not have been appointed to the u. S. Supreme court. 82 goes to the washington, d. C. Circuit and when appointed to the Supreme Court . He gets appointed in 1996. And the battle is beating robert borke to the nomination. He was the man on deck for the Supreme Court. He was a strong intellectual force and nine years of Justice Scalia senior. He was on the washington, d. C. Circuit before Justice Scalia. And in some ways i think people believed it was owed to him. He did have a hand saturday massacre in the watergate and enough controversy he was passed up in 1975 when the Ford Administration went for steven. After reagan chose oconnor to be the first woman of the Supreme Court who will he chose next and he chose scalia and i will tell you why. He chose four. But not until 1987 but that made a difference because the senate flipped democratic. He chose scalia in 86 because president reagan was enthralled by the first generation story. He was a conservative but presented a different tale and at the time the administration didnt know if it would get more appointments and Justice Scalia seemed a lot healthier. He was a smoker i remember telling something and they said i didnt know that. The administration goes with Antonin Scalia. He skates through the process. Let me stop there. That vacancy was created when chief Justice Warren burger resigned. And instead of going outside of the Court President reagan selected William Renquist who was an assocate justice to be chief justice and then selected skalia to take the rin quest seat. Didnt they come together at the same time . Yes, and that helped him. He was helped by his italianamerican heritage, and helped by the fact his record for all intensive purposes was in plain site but there was no reason to probe too deep in the how deep his conservative behavior was but he followed him for status and a lot of came out to be elevated to chief and support him. They didnt like his report on the Supreme Court but he was outspoken as an assistant attorney general in the office of Legal Council and he had a record that generated so many more critics. Here is Antonin Scalia who has this wonderful life story. His nine children lineup behind him. I was going to ask you when you mentioned he was an only child he has nine children and how many grandchildren now . 30. But i would have to check. I asked him how he could remember all of the names of my grandchildren and he said what makes you think i remember the name of all grandchildren. He had nine and has 30 grandchildren. Wonderful life story. At the time he was nominated in 86 he had no grandchildren. They lined up behind him, look lovely, and the senators are talking everything is looking wonderful. He is so confidant in his views he only answers what he wants to answers and he himself knows he cannot go down any controversial path and he is giving advice not to say anything. He writes in his own book about how i dont think i could have gotten the serial number out of the guy. He played that committee in so many ways and was voted in unanimously. The vote was 980. We know there has been these contentious votes a couple year back now and you will see Justice Scalia, one of the more controversial justice, and more colorful and flamboyant, 980. If you read the dialogue from the hard line liberals even, howard bomb opens his questioning or probing by saying it is shame you beat me in slash the other day. There was a very good ole boy thing going on. I open in the book with Justice Scalia talking about the first softball questions. And on the yeah, and the federal society and the justice himself puts his arms together and says bring it on. At the end of his hearing he said i have truly enjoyed by myself and i wrote i think he did. I think he did it, too. And an odd ball question was asked about property laws, and bringing uses and shifting and then Justice Scalia without a pause tells this great story about two lawyers in new york about taxi cab access. He hijacks the question and it is like okay we are ought of time later. I asked do you think he knew the real answer to the question and they said who knows, probably not. And with the answer the senator forgot the question. Yeah. Yeah. How does Justice Scalia he is so outgoing in his opinion and sometimes pretty rough, would you say, in the descending opinions or the opinions he writes challenging the views of his colleagues. How does he get along with his colleagues . What is their relationship like . That can be tough stuff. Initially there is a great story about Justice Marshall saying during oral arguments do you think he realizes the rest of us are here . This is a time when the bench is filled with mostly quite justice. We have a socalled hot bench right now where the majority are active and firing questions at the lawyer at the lectrpodium. He comes on and he is aggressive from the bench from the beginning. Tell us so people understand an oral argument in the Supreme Court gets 30 minutes per side, generally, right . What happens . Well, the lawyer for each side stands up and usually starts to present a case and what happens today is that individual justice jump in and ask question and try to make their own points. You can have 90 questions go by in an hour. Very fast paced. In 1986 it was a slower pace and the lawyer presenting was able to present more of his or her case. Justice scalia comes into the this atmosphere and really wants to mix it up much more. He does. He becomes quite a force. It is more appreciated now because we have justice like that but in 76 we had a more laid back group. Then he does a conference explain the conference. I will. I was talking to a former law clerk about what goes on in that. It is only the nine justice. No one else. And they sit around a table. This is after the hear the chase . They meet two times a we