(1936-) US jurist and associate justice of the US Supreme Court 1986– . He concurred with the majority in Texas v Johnson 1989, that ruled constitutional the burning of the US flag in protest. He dissented in Edwards v Aguillard 1987 when the Court ruled that states may not mandate the teaching of the theory of creationism to counteract the teaching of the theory of evolution.
Born in Trenton, New Jersey, US, Scalia graduated from Georgetown University and the Harvard University Law School. From 1971 he worked as a lawyer in the executive branch of the federal government, ultimately becoming assistant attorney general 1974, where he advised the Gerald Ford White House in the Watergate scandal. President Reagan appointed Scalia to the Supreme Court 1986.
He later became professor of law at the University of Chicago, where he was known for his support of economic deregulation and judicial restraint.