Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1986–2016) — who pioneered constitutional originalism and statutory textualism — the most influential American jurist of the last 50 years — whose jurisprudence has restructured constitutional law debate.

Creates originalism as the dominant conservative constitutional methodology — Scalia's systematic argument (that the Constitution should be interpreted according to its original public meaning rather than evolving standards) transformed constitutional debate from a contest between liberal activism and conservative restraint into a contest between competing interpretive methodologies.