by Christopher Woolf

Antonin Scalia made history when he became the first Italian-American appointed to the Supreme Court. Scalia, who died Saturday was the son of an immigrant from Sicily, and his biographer, Joan Biskupic, says the judge was always proud of his Italian heritage.

He was born in Trenton, New Jersey, but moved to Queens as a young boy. His neighborhood was full of immigrant families: Italian, Irish, German, Jewish. His father, Salvatore, refused to speak English to anyone until he had mastered the language, but once he did he went on to get a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

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Source: http://www.wbez.org/