He was confirmed on Constitution Day, September 17, 1986, to the nation's highest court with a unanimous Senate vote. To many who'd known Antonin Scalia it wasn't a surprise, because more than any lawyer in recent history, he held in such high esteem not just the words of the Constitution (and their original meaning) but the Constitution's structure and the purpose behind it.

In James Rosen's remarkable new book, Scalia: Rise to Greatness, readers come to learn not just the origins of Scalia's originalism but how the man the world would come to know as Nino came to be. He was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1936, the only child to Salvatore and Catherine Scalia.