In case you wondered …

… What made Antonin Scalia great.

Rosen uncovers new information that is revelatory. While Scalia never said he felt any great destiny calling him to the Supreme Court, Rosen interviewed Father Robert Connor, one of Scalia’s oldest friends. Connor and Scalia attended Xavier together, and when Connor left medical school to join the priesthood, Scalia was called to make sure his friend knew what he was doing. It was 1959, and Connor won Scalia over with his argument for Opus Dei. Connor then asked his fellow 23-year-old what his plans were. “Oh,” Scalia replied. “I am going to the Supreme Court.” He would go to the right law firm, he said, then to Washington, and “from there, I will rise.”