Meeting Antonin Scalia, 1991, by Jim Weingart
From MemoryArchive
Who: James Weingart What: Meeting Justice Antonin Scalia When: 1991 Where: Arlington Virginia
I had an opportunity to hear Justice Scalia speak at a prayer breakfast at St. Thomas Moore Cathedral in Arlington Virginia back in 1991. A close friend invited me to go with him and his young daughter so I brought my own daughter, Elissa. At the time she was about 7 years old and I don’t believe she remembers much of the affair but it is vivid in my memory. The Justice spoke on his views as a member of the Supreme Court and then took questions from those present. He was very casual in his conversation and a number of things that he said have stayed with me. The most striking aspect of the event occurred afterward. My daughter and I went up to the front and say hello and chat with him at the conclusion of the breakfast. There were a number of people around him and he spoke with each of them in turn and finally with me. He and I spoke briefly. I told him that I enjoyed his talk and appreciated his answers to the questions. Then, he did something I found (and still do find) amazing. He turned to my seven year old daughter and bent down to look her square in the face so he could talk to her. For those few minutes my daughter was the center of this man’s focus of attention and I literally stood there transfixed at the sight. It was a very human thing to do and not at all what I would have expected. It is a memory that comes back to me when his name pops up in the media because in my mind, beyond all else, Justice Scalia is a straightforward and genuine human being.
