--- title: Antonin Scalia Death: What Made Antonin Scalia Influential description: On Saturday officials in Washington confirmed the death of Antonin Scalia, the conservative jurist who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan.... canonical: https://time.com/4220692/antonin-scalia-biography/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-13T23:15:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:03:49.266Z article:section: Politics og:title: Antonin Scalia Death: What Made Antonin Scalia Influential og:description: On Saturday officials in Washington confirmed the death of Antonin Scalia, the conservative jurist who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan.... og:url: https://time.com/4220692/antonin-scalia-biography/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c48aa1a9d2ca67e/69887d950a4a2233669c85f0/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: REAGAN SCALIA REHNQUIST og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Antonin Scalia Death: What Made Antonin Scalia Influential twitter:description: On Saturday officials in Washington confirmed the death of Antonin Scalia, the conservative jurist who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan.... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c48aa1a9d2ca67e/69887d950a4a2233669c85f0/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Made Antonin Scalia Influential > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2ed90230-18c8-4319-acdb-0d121b751d37&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Feb 13, 2016 11:15 PM UTC  In this 1986 photo shows President Ronald Reagan with Antonin Scalia, left, whom he appointed to fill the Supreme Court post of William H. Rehnquist, right, who was elevated to the position of chief justice, in 1986. In this 1986 photo shows President Ronald Reagan with Antonin Scalia, left, whom he appointed to fill the Supreme Court post of William H. Rehnquist, right, who was elevated to the position of chief justice, in 1986. Paul Hosefros—The New York Times/Redux by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Feb 13, 2016 11:15 PM UTC On [Saturday officials in Washington confirmed the death of Antonin Scalia](http://time.com/4220662/justice-antonin-scalia-dead-at-79/?2&xid=homepage), the conservative jurist who was appointed to the [Supreme Court](http://time.com/4220701/justice-scalia-death-supreme-court-replacement/) by President Ronald Reagan. In June 1986, [TIME’s Richard Stengel described](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,961647-1,00.html) how [Scalia](http://time.com/4220671/justice-antonin-scalia-death-reactions/)‘s background, upbringing and passion for an after-dinner sing-along brought the father of nine to the attention of Washington’s most influential judges and politicians. Three months after the story was published, Scalia became a member of the Supreme Court: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4220692/antonin-scalia-biography/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4220692/antonin-scalia-biography/"},"headline":"What Made Antonin Scalia Influential","datePublished":"2016-02-13T23:15:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:03:49.266Z","description":"On Saturday officials in Washington confirmed the death of Antonin Scalia, the conservative jurist who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan....","url":"https://time.com/4220692/antonin-scalia-biography/","keywords":["Supreme Court"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c48aa1a9d2ca67e/69887d950a4a2233669c85f0/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c48aa1a9d2ca67e/69887d950a4a2233669c85f0/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"REAGAN SCALIA REHNQUIST","caption":"In this 1986 photo shows President Ronald Reagan with Antonin Scalia, left, whom he appointed to fill the Supreme Court post of William H. 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