On February 13, 2016, Antonin Scalia died. Scalia was the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was 79 years old when he passed away. Scalia died at a luxury resort in west Texas because of heart trouble and low blood pressure. The news shocked many people because of his influence on the Supreme Court.

Antonin Scalia was born on March 11, 1936, in Trenton, NJ. He grew up in Queens, New York City, as an only child. His dad was a professor at Brooklyn College where he taught romance languages. His mother worked as an elementary teacher until Antonin was born. As Scalia was growing up, he went to a public elementary school where he was a straight-A student. He went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he graduated the valedictorian with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1957. After graduation, he went to Harvard Law School. During his last year, he met his wife, Maureen McCarthy, an undergraduate at Radcliffe College. After many years of marriage they had nine kids and many grandchildren.

Scalia began his legal career in 1961 in a law office. He would have been made partner, but he followed his father’s footsteps toward teaching. In 1967, he took a position at the University of Virginia Law School and moved his family to Charlottesville. In 1967, Scalia entered public service when President Nixon gave him the title of general counsel for the Office of Telecommunications Policy. That is where he helped the cable television industry. In 1974, Scalia was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. Under this title, he testified before congressional committees for the Ford administration.

President Reagan sent an invitation to Scalia to have an appointment on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1982.  He accepted President Ronald Reagan’s appointment. There he built a conservative record and won high approval in legal circles for his powerful and witty writing.

Next, he was bound to follow as a lower court judge since he won high approval from legal circles. This drew attention from the president’s administration, which put him on the short list for a Supreme Court nomination. Scalia was later informed that he was accepted for the Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986.

Having held this high title, Scalia was considered one of the more prominent legal thinkers of his generation. He became a political celebrity, especially with socially and politically conservative groups. However, he pleased liberals by voting to uphold free speech. He also aimed to limit the right to an abortion. Even though some people were against him, he made no apologies. He also confounded many Court observers when he withdrew from cases whose topics would interest him, such as those surrounding the Pledge of Allegiance.

On February 13, 2016, 79-year-old Antonin Scalia passed away.  On February 20, people paid their final respects to Scalia during a funeral which took place in Washington. He will be remembered for his amazing command of language and his long impact on the US Supreme Court.