Scope and Contents
The Antonin Scalia papers document Scalia's professional life as a federal judge, law professor and legal scholar, beginning with his professorship at the University of Virginia and extending through his tenure on the Supreme Court. The majority (approximately 65-70%) of the collection consists of Supreme Court and Court of Appeals files. The remaining 30-35% of the collection contains correspondence, speaking engagement and event files, photographs, pre-judicial career material such as teaching files, ABA files, confirmation and nomination material, and miscellaneous other files.
The papers reflect Scalia’s professional life; there is little documentation of his personal and family life outside of work.
The collection does not include e-mail correspondence or other electronic files. Also not included are Supreme Court pool memoranda and records from Scalia’s government positions.
Dates
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1970-2016
Conditions Governing Access
Access to these papers is governed by the rules and regulations of the Harvard Law School Library. This collection is open to the public, but is housed off-site at the Harvard Depository and requires 2 business-day advance notice for retrieval. Consult Historical & Special Collections staff for further information.
Due to the collection's restrictions, files will be released periodically. NOTE: Due to COVID-19, release dates have been delayed.
Additionally, the collection's deed of gift dictates specific access terms for certain materials within the collection. See the "Conditions Governing Access" note for each individual series, as well as for individual folders, for more information.
Due to the collection's restrictions, files will be released periodically. NOTE: Due to COVID-19, release dates have been delayed.
Conditions Governing Use
The Harvard Law School Library holds copyright on some, but not all, of the material in our collections. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be directed to Historical & Special Collections staff. Researchers who obtain permission to publish from the Harvard Law School Library are also responsible for identifying and contacting the persons or organizations who hold copyright.
Extent
350-400 linear feetBiographical / Historical
Antonin Scalia was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court for thirty years, 1986-2016. He was the first Italian-American to be nominated to the court. Raised in Queens, New York, he attended Georgetown University for his undergraduate studies. After receiving his law degree from Harvard Law School, he worked as a lawyer in private practice, as a law professor, and held government positions in the Nixon and Ford administrations. In 1982, he was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he served for four years, until his elevation to the Supreme Court. Alongside his judicial career, he published several books, and was a sought-after speaker for numerous events across the United States and abroad.
- March 11, 1936
- Born in Trenton, New Jersey
- 1957
- Georgetown University, A.B., summa cum laude
- 1960
- Harvard Law School, LL.B., magna cum laude
- 1960-1961
- Sheldon Fellow, Harvard University
- 1961-1967
- Private practice of law with Jones, Day, Cockley and Reavis (Cleveland, Ohio)
- 1967-1974
- Professor of Law, University of Virginia Law School (on leave 1971-1974)
- 1971-1972
- General Counsel, Office of Telecommunications Policy, Executive Office of the President
- 1972-1974
- Chairman, Administrative Conference of the United States
- 1974-1977
- Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, United States Department of Justice
- 1977
- Scholar in Residence, American Enterprise Institute; Visiting Professor of Law, Georgetown University
- 1977-1982
- Professor of Law, University of Chicago
- 1980-1981
- Visiting Professor of Law, Stanford University
- 1982-1986
- Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- 1986-2016
- Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
- February 13, 2016
- Died in Shafter, Texas
Processing Information
Level III-optimum. This finding aid is compliant with Harvard Library's Level III-optimum requirements.
This collection was processed by Irene Gates, Edwin Moloy, Mike Muehe and Carolina Quiroa-Crowell, 2018-2020.
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- law00291
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard Law School Library, Historical & Special Collections Repository
Harvard Law School Library's Historical & Special Collections (HSC) collects, preserves, and makes available research materials for the study of the law and legal history. HSC holds over 8,000 linear feet of manuscripts, over 100,000 rare books, and more than 70,000 visual images.
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