Yet both of Nino’s sons also noted a factor often forgotten: that the friendship was born of. Scalia and Ginsburg first met at an academic conference in the late 1970s. Their friendship blossomed when Scalia joined Ginsburg, in October 1982, as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: one rung below the Marble Temple, often described as the second most powerful court in America. “They enjoyed working together,” Christopher wrote in his 2020 essay.
The Justices’ friendship deepened after Scalia was appointed as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1982, where Ginsburg had already been serving since 1980.Early on Ginsburg exhibited an almost maternal attitude toward Scalia. Repeatedly, needlessly, she expressed concern about the weight of his workload.
Nino, for his part, heaped praise on RBG so high it was probably unknown even to his brightest students and clerks, and possibly even to his children. When she encouraged him, in Weil v. Markowitz , to “change your vote on the first question [so] we can be unanimous,” he capitulated the next day, scribbling on her memo: “Let’s be unanimous. AS.”
Unexpected? It’s a club.
Why they worked together for 30 years. Aren’t you friends with people you work with for a long time?! 🤦♀️
Glad they are friends in hell