--- title: Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Scalia and I Were 'Best Buddies' description: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Sunday that she and Antonin Scalia "disagreed now and then" but "we were best buddies." canonical: https://time.com/4224475/antonin-scalia-ruth-bader-gisburg-buddies/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-14T21:01:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:04:32.275Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Scalia and I Were 'Best Buddies' og:description: The pair were unlikely pals og:url: https://time.com/4224475/antonin-scalia-ruth-bader-gisburg-buddies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49a652c8cb37409a/69887d925f570f45dab1fa5b/scalia-bader-ginsburg-supreme-court-justices.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 29: The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court pose for their official photo in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. Seated from front left are Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Anton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Scalia and I Were 'Best Buddies' twitter:description: The pair were unlikely pals twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49a652c8cb37409a/69887d925f570f45dab1fa5b/scalia-bader-ginsburg-supreme-court-justices.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Scalia and I Were 'Best Buddies' by [Elisha Fieldstadt and Pete Williams / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Elisha Fieldstadt and Pete Williams / NBC News Feb 14, 2016 9:01 PM UTC  The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court pose for their official photo in Washington on Sept. 29, 2009\. Seated from front left are Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Standing at rear are Samuel Alito, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court pose for their official photo in Washington on Sept. 29, 2009\. Seated from front left are Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Standing at rear are Samuel Alito, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.Dennis Brack—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Elisha Fieldstadt and Pete Williams / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Elisha Fieldstadt and Pete Williams / NBC News Feb 14, 2016 9:01 PM UTC Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Sunday that she and her unlikely friend Justice Antonin Scalia “disagreed now and then” but even so, “we were best buddies.” Scalia was found dead Saturday at the age of 79\. He and Ginsburg differed greatly in ideologies, but bonded over a shared love of the opera and “our reverence for the Constitution and the institution we serve,” Ginsburg said. The justice added that her pal made her better at her job. “From our years together at the D.C. Circuit, we were best buddies,” she wrote. “We disagreed now and then, but when I wrote for the Court and received a Scalia dissent, the opinion ultimately released was notably better than my initial circulation.” [**Read more from our partners at NBC News**](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-justice-antonin-scalia-we-were-best-n518671?cid=par-time%5F20160214) Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Scalia and I Were 'Best Buddies' ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4224475/antonin-scalia-ruth-bader-gisburg-buddies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4224475/antonin-scalia-ruth-bader-gisburg-buddies/"},"headline":"Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Scalia and I Were 'Best Buddies'","datePublished":"2016-02-14T21:01:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:04:32.275Z","description":"The pair were unlikely pals","url":"https://time.com/4224475/antonin-scalia-ruth-bader-gisburg-buddies/","keywords":["Supreme Court"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49a652c8cb37409a/69887d925f570f45dab1fa5b/scalia-bader-ginsburg-supreme-court-justices.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elisha Fieldstadt and Pete Williams / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49a652c8cb37409a/69887d925f570f45dab1fa5b/scalia-bader-ginsburg-supreme-court-justices.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 29: The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court pose for their official photo in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. 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