Stone Discusses Justice Scalia on WTTW's Chicago Tonight
Justice Antonin Scalia was widely known for his conservative judicial philosophy and outspoken opinions on the U.S Supreme Court. But before his judicial rise to prominence, Scalia taught law at the University of Chicago. We caught up with one of his former colleagues who recounts Scalia as being a passionate, fiery professor with a penchant for debate, argument, and ... card tricks.
Scalia taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago from 1977-1982. His close colleague, University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone, says Scalia was known even then on campus for his philosophy of originalism – or a strict literal interpretation of the Constitution and what he believed the founders intended.
Stone admits that he does not come close to sharing Scalia’s legal philosophy, and he says they would have spirited disagreements but became friends because they had children in school together.
He said they cemented their friendship over monthly poker nights, where Scalia would tend to get creative in his role as dealer.
“Scalia was a regular participant in these games,” said Stone. “He wanted to have us play games that were off the beaten path. One of them he got a kick out of was insisting we play a version of poker where each player would hold a card on their forehead where other players could see their card but the holder was blind. So he got a kick out of things like that, and was a fun person to have engaged.”
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