During his tenure late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was often a controversial figure, especially for those on the left.

However, Dwight G. Duncan, a Professor of Law at the University of Massachusetts School of Law told WBSM's Phil Paleologos that this wasn't always the case.

"He was confirmed unanimously by a vote of 98 to zero in the United States Senate," said Duncan "even though he became a kind of lightning rod for criticism about the court, and the sort of symbol about the conservative side of the court, he was initially confirmed unanimously."

Duncan says that whether you agreed with Scalia's point of view or not you can't ignore the impact he had on the court.

"He was a towering figure and tremendously influential over the past 30 years that he sat on the court he was the single most influential person," said Duncan "all the times he was in dissent, but like Justice Holmes he was the great dissenter."

Duncan also says that Scalia's interpretation of the Constitution is similar to that of other jurists who view it as a literal document.

"He believed that the Constitution and Law meant something and that something was more or less fixed and that if there was a problem with it, well you should amend it," said Duncan "but basically you shouldn't change it by judicial decree because that invites judges to just impose values on the rest of us."

Scalia died in Texas over the weekend from natural causes, he was 79.

More From WBSM-AM/AM 1420