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105 Pol. Sci. Q. 1 (1990-1991)

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry105 and id is 1 raw text is: The Conservatism of Antonin Scalia RICHARD A. BRISBIN, JR. During 1981-1988 the Reagan administration consciously attempted to appoint federal judges who agreed with its policy agenda. The appointment of Antonin Scalia to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and his elevation to the Supreme Court in August 1986 is the archetypical example of the administration's judicial appointment practice.' This article will examine Scalia's public statements, publications, and judicial opinions to the close of the 1987 term of the Supreme Court to permit an evaluation of his political and constitutional values. Special attention will be devoted to identifying his place in the Reagan effort to insure a bench in tune with the conservative policy stance and to indi- cating his place in modern conservative thought. THE ALLEGIANCES OF A JUSTICE Like a number of Reagan administration appointees to the federal bench, An- tonin Scalia taught law and served in the executive branch. During the Nixon and Ford administrations he served as general counsel in the Office of Telecommuni- cations Policy in the Justice Department, chairman of the Administrative Confer- ence of the United States, and assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel. He held a position with the conservative American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) in 1977. Although he returned to the ' Sheldon Goldman, Reagan's Second Term Judicial Appointments: The Battle at Midway, Judica- ture 70 (April-May 1987): 324-339; Jon Gottschall, Reagan's Appointments to the U.S. Courts of Appeals: The Continuation of a Judicial Revolution, Judicature 70 (June-July 1986): 48-54; Debra Cassens Moss, The Policy and Rhetoric of Ed Meese,American BarAssociation Journal73 (I February 1987): 64-69; Elder Witt, A Different Justice. Reagan and the Supreme Court (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1986). RICHARD A. BRISBIN, JR. is assistant professor of political science at West Virginia University. He is currently working on a book on dispute resolution processes with Susan Hunter. Political Science Quarterly Volume 105 Number 1 1990 1