Overview

If the U.S. Supreme Court teaches us anything, it is that almost everything is open to interpretation. Almost. But what's inarguable is that, while the Court has witnessed a succession of larger-than-life jurists in its two-hundred-plus-year history, it has never seen the likes of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Combative yet captivating, infuriating yet charming, the outspoken jurist remains a source of curiosity to observers across the political spectrum and on both sides of the ideological divide. But for all his public grandstanding, Scalia has managed to elude biographers--until now. In American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the veteran Washington journalist Joan Biskupic presents for the first time a detailed portrait of this complicated figure and provides a comprehensive narrative that will engage Scalia's adherents and critics alike. Drawing on her long tenure covering the Court and on unprecedented access to the justice, Biskupic delves into the circumstances of his rise and the formation of his rigorous approach on the bench. This book shows us the man in power: his world, his journey, and the far-reaching consequences of a transformed legal landscape.

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9780374202897

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Reviews

<p> Joan Biskupic has done it again. Having hit a home run in her fine biography of the quintessential centrist justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, Biskupic has now hit it far out of the park with her elegant, insightful, and eminently readable account of the life and constitutional views of the most colorful justice on the Supreme Court's right wing. For anyone who wants to understand the most influential and interesting voice of the most powerful movement in contemporary American law, this book is a must-read. --Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School<p> Biskupic is an old-fashioned reporter's reporter--hard-digging, tough-minded, but even-handed. She is also a thoughtful and shrewd judge of people. She has penetrated the Supreme Court and given us a fascinating portrait of the court's most colorful and human justice. --Evan Thomas, editor, Newsweek <p> This is the best judicial biography I've ever read. Scalia, the lodestone of the modern Court, is complex, influential, difficult, and, above all--in these pages--alive. --Richard Ben Cramer, author of Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life It's hard to write a fair-minded biography of such a polarizing figure, but that's what Joan Biskupic has done with 'American Original' . . . impressively balanced and well reported. --Jeffrey Rosen, The New York Times Book Review [ American Original ] will stand up over time. --Emily Bazelon, Slate Intellectually rigorous. . . 'American Original: the Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia' is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand this jurist. --Claude R. Marx, Boston Globe Biskupic has written a biography filled with fire, a book almost certain to anger Scalia's fans on many pages because she offers candid assessments of his flaws, as well as his strengths. Scalia's detractors will find lots of material with which to demonize him even further. --Steve Weinberg, Dallas Morning News A gifted storyteller .

<p> Joan Biskupic has done it again. Having hit a home run in her fine biography of the quintessential centrist justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, Biskupic has now hit it far out of the park with her elegant, insightful, and eminently readable account of the life and constitutional views of the most colorful justice on the Supreme Court's right wing. For anyone who wants to understand the most influential and interesting voice of the most powerful movement in contemporary American law, this book is a must-read. --Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School<p> Biskupic is an old-fashioned reporter's reporter--hard-digging, tough-minded, but even-handed. She is also a thoughtful and shrewd judge of people. She has penetrated the Supreme Court and given us a fascinating portrait of the court's most colorful and human justice. --Evan Thomas, editor, Newsweek <p> This is the best judicial biography I've ever read. Scalia, the lodestone of the modern Court, is comp

<p>&#8220;Joan Biskupic has done it again. Having hit a home run in her fine biography of the quintessential centrist justice, Sandra Day O&#8217;Connor, Biskupic has now hit it far out of the park with her elegant, insightful, and eminently readable account of the life and constitutional views of the most colorful justice on the Supreme Court&#8217;s right wing. For anyone who wants to understand the most influential and interesting voice of the most powerful movement in contemporary American law, this book is a must-read.&#8221; &#8212;Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School<p>&#8220;Biskupic is an old-fashioned reporter&#8217;s reporter&#8212;hard-digging, tough-minded, but even-handed. She is also a thoughtful and shrewd judge of people. She has penetrated the Supreme Court and given us a fascinating portrait of the court&#8217;s most colorful and human justice.&#8221; &#8212;Evan Thomas, editor, Newsweek <p>&#8220;This is the best judicial biograp

Author Information

<p>Joan Biskupic has covered the Supreme Court since 1989 and currently writes for USA Today. Previously the Supreme Court reporter for The Washington Post, she is a frequent panelist on PBS's Washington Week. Biskupic holds a law degree from Georgetown University and previously authored a biography of Sandra Day O'Connor.

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