“When I was in law teaching,” recalled Antonin Scalia in a speech just days before his 1986 nomination to the Supreme Court, “I was fond of doing what is called ‘teaching against the class’—that is, taking positions that the students were almost certain to disagree with, in order to generate some discussion, if not productive thought.” He admitted to doing something similar when addressing public audiences: “It is neither any fun nor any use preaching to the choir.”

In decades of public speeches at home and abroad, Scalia educated, challenged, and entertained countless audiences. Now anyone who wants to benefit from the late justice’s wit and wisdom can do so with Scalia Speaks, a collection of speeches edited by Christopher J. Scalia and Edward Whelan (that is, the justice’s youngest son and his former clerk). The book offers Scalia’s reflections on a vast array of subjects.