A man of letters: The Antonin Scalia Collection opens at Harvard Law School
Papers from the life and work of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia ’60 now available at HLS
February 11, 2020
The Harvard Law School Library has announced the public release of the first batch of papers and other items from the Antonin Scalia Collection.
One of the most influential jurists in American history, the late Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Antonin Scalia ’60 changed how the Court approaches statutory and constitutional interpretation. His forceful and plain spoken exposition of separation of powers, checks and balances, the proper role of the courts, and the rule of law had a profound impact well beyond the legal community.
Justice Scalia’s family donated his papers to the Harvard Law School Library after his death in 2016. The papers will be made available to researchers in stages over the course of the next 40 years. Materials being made available today largely come from his life and work before his 1986 appointment to the Supreme Court.
Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionThe Antonin Scalia Collection at Harvard Law School includes material and memorabilia from the career of the late Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Antonin Scalia ’60, including his tenure on the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, his public appearances and other events, as well as his teaching and writing. Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law SchoolCredit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionSupreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’56-’58, center left, and Antonin Scalia ’60, center right, pose with cast members of "Ariadne auf Naxos" following a performance at the Washington opera on Jan. 8, 1994, in Washington, D.C. The justices, both opera lovers, appeared as extras during the performance.Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionRuth Bader Ginsburg ’56-’58, who served on the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1980 to 1993, wrote to Antonin Scalia ’60: "To Nino, Vive la France, et Vive Justice Scalia" Read CaptionJustice Antonin Scalia's papers were donated to the Harvard Law School Library following his death in 2016. The collection, which arrived at Harvard's storage facility in November 2017, consists of approximately 400 linear feet of papers, photographs and audiovisual material. Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionIn a letter dated June 26, 1986, Harvard Law School Professor Paul Freund ’31 S.J.D. ’32, a leading authority on constitutional law and the Supreme Court, congratulates Antonin Scalia on his nomination to the Supreme Court, writing: "Dear Nino: Let me join the chorus of acclaim that has greeted your nomination. You bring great honor to the Law School, and if the School cannot claim credit for having created your qualities of intellect and character, it can at least take pride in having clearly recognized them at an early stage ..."Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionU.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia ’60, far left, and Elena Kagan ’86, center, on a group hunting trip. Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionScalia's course notes for a constitutional law class, circa 1981. Scalia taught at the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago Law School, among other schools. Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionAs a student at Xavier High School in New York City, Antonin Scalia ’60 (second from right) participated in the debate team. Separately, an Oct. 20, 1952 article in the New York Times titled “Girls debate boys on election issues," noted that the then 16-year-old Scalia was one of six high-schoolers selected to a debate panel hosted by the Times. The discussion, titled “Will a Democratic Victory Secure Our Future?,” took place in the weeks before a presidential election between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai E. Stevenson. Credit: From The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionU.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the first Italian-American selected for the nation's highest court, at the National Italian American Foundation gala dinner in 1992, with Baseball legend Joe DiMaggio and Barbara Bush, who was the first lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993.Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law SchoolCredit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionIn a 1987 letter, a high school quiz team leader from Ohio asked Justice Scalia to adjudicate an issue involving Scalia's given name. The student wrote: "...The question was asked: 'Who is the youngest member of the U.S. Supreme Court?’ The answer given was 'Anthony Scalia.' Is Anthony an acceptable equivalent for Antonin - yes or no?" Scalia replied: "In my fifty years with this name, I have learned to settle for a good deal less than 'Anthony Scalia.' I have decided to draw the line at 'Antoine.' As we say here in Washington, 'Close enough for government work.' Give the kid a point."Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionU.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia ’60 and Barack Obama ’91, who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law SchoolCredit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionIn a letter, dated June 18, 1982, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, congratulates Antonin Scalia on his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, writing "... I am delighted that this President showed such excellent judgment and know that I will enjoy working with you and getting to know you better. If I can be helpful in any way during the transition, please let me know. ... "Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law SchoolCredit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionAntonin Scalia and his wife, Maureen, with Pope John Paul II, in RomeCredit: From The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read Caption Arthur R. Ashe Jr., 1975 Wimbledon tennis champion, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at the Commencement Classic Tennis Tournament, College of William & Mary, in Virginia, in 1991. Both Scalia and Ashe received an honorary degree at William & Mary's commencement ceremony in 1991.Credit: From The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionAntonin Scalia, U.S. Court of Appeals judge for the District of Columbia circuit from 1982 to 1986, with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, at the Plenary Session of the Administrative Conference of the United States in 1986. Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionOn Sept. 17, 1986, the U.S. Senate in executive session confirmed the nomination of Antonin Scalia as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionAntonin Scalia with Al Gore, who served as a U.S. senator from Tennessee from 1985 to 1993, and as U.S. vice president during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionMaureen Scalia and Antonin Scalia with Nancy Pelosi (center), representative of California’s 12th congressional district.Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law SchoolCredit: From The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionRonald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989, with Antonin Scalia and his wife, Maureen. Read CaptionColin Powell, a four-star general in the United States Army who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005, with Antonin Scalia Read CaptionAntonin Scalia at the George Bush Presidential Library Center Credit: The Antonin Scalia Papers, Harvard Law School Read CaptionSupreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Ginsburg riding a elephant in India in 1994.
“We are deeply honored that Harvard Law School has been entrusted with the Justice’s historic papers, and we now have the opportunity to share these papers,” said Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning ’85, who served as a law clerk for Justice Scalia from 1988 to 1989. “This archive will allow generations of scholars to come to Harvard Law School to study the record of Justice Scalia’s historic tenure on the Supreme Court,” said Manning.
The bulk of the Scalia Collection at Harvard Law School consists of judicial papers from his 30-year career on the Supreme Court, where he served from 1986 to 2016, and his tenure on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, from 1982 to 1986. Materials regarding specific cases will not be opened during the lifetime of other justices or judges who participated in those cases.
The material being made available today includes: Pre-Supreme Court files, 1970-1986; correspondence through 1989; speaking engagements and event files through 1989; four decades of photographs and audiovisual materials, from 1975 to 2016; as well as miscellaneous material such as subject files and articles about Scalia over a 30-year period, 1986-2016.
“The Harvard Law School Library’s patrons are not only those using the library today, but those who will follow,” said Jonathan Zittrain ’95, George Bemis Professor of International Law and director of the HLS Library. “We secure irreplaceable papers such as these as part of the solemn pursuit of citizens and scholars understanding the trajectory of the law not only from its formal outputs, but through the contemporaneous notes as it was forged.”
In announcing her decision in 2017 to donate the papers to Harvard Law School, Justice Scalia’s wife of 55 years, Maureen, said, “Nino and I met as students in Cambridge, when he was at the Law School and I at Radcliffe. Our visits back to Harvard together always felt like a homecoming, particularly in recent years. I am pleased to make this gift, and that his papers will now be at the Law School.”
After graduating from the law school in 1960, Justice Scalia often returned to meet with students, attend reunions and to judge HLS moot court competitions. His last appearance at Harvard Law School was in November of 2014, when he came for the first in a series of lectures established in his honor, and to judge the final round of the Law School’s 2014 Ames Moot Court Competition.
As more materials from the collection become available, they will be announced on the HLS Library’s blog, Et Seq., and through other outlets. The library’s modern manuscripts collection includes the papers of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. LL.B. 1866, Louis D. Brandeis, and other Supreme Court Justices. With the addition of Justice Scalia’s papers, researchers now have the opportunity to explore the courts and venerable jurists across three centuries.
