Editing Antonin Scalia (section)

==Nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States (1986)==
{{multiple image
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| image1            = President Ronald Reagan and Judge Antonin Scalia confer in the Oval Office, July 7, 1986.jpg
| caption1          = [[Ronald Reagan]] and Scalia (his nominee) in the [[Oval Office]], July 7, 1986
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| caption2          = Judge and Mrs. Scalia (left) and President Reagan (right) watch as Chief Justice [[Warren Burger]] swears [[William Rehnquist]] in as the next Chief Justice, September 26, 1986.
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In 1986, Chief Justice [[Warren Burger]] informed the White House of his intent to retire. Reagan first decided to nominate Associate Justice [[William Rehnquist]] to become Chief Justice. That choice meant that Reagan would also have to choose a nominee to fill Rehnquist's seat as associate justice.<ref name="nosmoke" /> Attorney General [[Edwin Meese]], who advised Reagan on the choice, seriously considered only Scalia and [[Robert Bork]], a fellow judge on the DC Circuit.{{sfn|Toobin|2008|p=21}} Feeling that this might well be Reagan's last opportunity to pick a Supreme Court justice, the president and his advisers chose Scalia over Bork. Many factors influenced the decision. Reagan wanted to appoint the first Italian-American justice.<ref>{{Citation |last=Wallison |first=Peter |title=Ronald Reagan: the power of conviction and the success of his Presidency |page=151 |year=2004 |postscript=. |editor-last=Wallison |editor-first=Peter |chapter=Of loyalty, leaks, and the White House staff |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=9780813390475 |author-link=Peter Wallison |editor-link=Peter Wallison}}</ref> In addition, Scalia was nine years younger and would likely serve longer on the Court.<ref name="nosmoke" /> Scalia also had the advantage of not having Bork's "paper trail";{{sfn|Staab|2006|p=24}} the elder judge had written controversial articles about individual rights.<ref>{{Citation |last=Biskupic |first=Joan |title=Timing and luck crucial for seat on high court |date=December 22, 2008 |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2008-12-22-court_N.htm |access-date=February 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506145436/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2008-12-22-court_N.htm |archive-date=May 6, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> Scalia was called to the White House and accepted Reagan's nomination.<ref name="nosmoke">{{Harvnb|Biskupic|2009|pp=104–09}}. Bork was nominated for the Supreme Court the following year, but his nomination was rejected by the Senate.</ref>

When [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] hearings on Scalia's nomination opened in August 1986, he faced a committee that had just argued divisively over the Rehnquist nomination. Witnesses and Democratic senators contended that before becoming a judge, Rehnquist had engaged in activities designed to discourage minorities from voting. Committee members had little taste for a second battle over Scalia and were in any event reluctant to oppose the first Italian-American Supreme Court nominee.{{sfn|Biskupic|2009|pp=100, 109–10}}{{Sfn|Dorsen|2017|p=11}} The judge was not pressed heavily on controversial issues such as abortion or civil rights.<ref>{{Citation |title=Scalia hearings muted |date=August 5, 1986 |work=[[The Milwaukee Journal]] |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19860806&id=dF0aAAAAIBAJ&pg=6785,3534231 |access-date=August 9, 2016}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Scalia, who attended the hearing with his wife and nine children seated behind him, found time for a humorous exchange with Sen. [[Howard Metzenbaum]] (D-OH), whom he had defeated in a tennis match in, as the nominee put it, "a case of my integrity overcoming my judgment".{{sfn|Biskupic|2009|p=109}}

Scalia met no opposition from the committee. The Senate debated Scalia's nomination only briefly, confirming him 98–0 on September 17, thereby making him the Court's first Italian-American Justice. That vote followed Rehnquist's confirmation as Chief Justice by a vote of 65–33 on the same day. Scalia took his seat on September 26, 1986. One committee member, Senator and future President [[Joe Biden]] (D-DE), later stated that he regretted not having opposed Scalia "because he was so effective".{{sfn|Biskupic|2009|p=121}}