In his legal philosophy, the late Justice Antonin Scalia was a rigid “textualist” who believed in judicial restraint. He purported to rely on the plain meaning of statutes and often construed laws narrowly to the detriment of deserving litigants. In his personal life, he loved great opera, food, and friends, among them, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He was a larger-than-life figure—a metro-textual—who transcended the stodgy customs of our nation’s court of last resort to become part of the public discourse.

WGBH