Fact check: It's true, Ginsburg and Scalia were close friends despite ideological differences

The claim: Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Ginsburg were close personal friends

Details of the relationship between Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg resurfaced after Ginsburg's death Sept. 18 of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer.

A Facebook post Sept. 21 described the unlikely friendship between the two influential justices at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

"It is common knowledge in DC that the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the now-late Ruth Bader Ginsburg were close personal friends. They shared a love of opera, went souvenir shopping together when they traveled, and rode an elephant in India with Scalia up front. Their families spent New Year's Eve together, and when Chief Justice (John) Roberts announced the death of Ginsburg's husband, Marty, Scalia wept on the bench," the post says.

USA TODAY was unable to reach the poster for comment.

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A decades-long bond

Ginsburg attributed her long friendship with Scalia, in part, to concurrent tenures at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where Ginsburg served from 1980-93 and Scalia from 1982-86, according to USA TODAY.

"From our years together at the D.C. Circuit, we were best buddies," Ginsburg wrote in a tribute shortly after Scalia's death in 2016, USA TODAY reported.

"It was my great good fortune to have known him as working colleague and treasured friend," Ginsburg said.

Scalia's close relationship with Ginsburg was included in a New York Times obituary.

"(Scalia) seldom agreed with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the important questions that reached the court, but the two for years celebrated New Year’s Eve together," it read.

Similar sentiments were expressed in NPR's obituary of Ginsburg.

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Travel, music and the law

In a Washington Post column, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia – Antonin Scalia's son – reflected on the bond between Ginsburg and his father, saying, "They were both New Yorkers, close in age, and liked a lot of the same things: the law, teaching, travel, music and a meal with family and friends," USA TODAY reported.

Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn in 1933, according to a special USA TODAY report. Scalia was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1936 but raised in Queens, New York, according to global news source The World.

A picture of the two riding an elephant in 1994 during a trip to India was released by the Supreme Court. That same year, Ginsburg and Scalia appeared together in the Washington National Opera's opening night production of Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos."

The "odd couple," as Scalia called them, vacationed in the south of France where Ginsburg dared to go parasailing, according to CNN. Scalia was a favorite "souvenir shopping buddy" of Ginsburg's, according to the Post.

The two upheld a tradition that began in the 1980s to spend New Year's Eve together with their families, according to Eugene Scalia.

What the social media post says about Martin Ginsburg's death is also true: When Roberts announced his death in 2010, Scalia "wiped tears from his eyes," according to The Washington Post.

Eugene Scalia recalled how the justices' status as outsiders in the elite field of law strengthened their relationship. The challenges one faced as a Jewish woman and the other as a conservative, Italian American Catholic influenced their work on the bench.

A constitutional "originalist," Scalia often interpreted the Constitution according to his perception of the founders' intent in his rulings, an approach Ginsburg argued was not in keeping with "We the People," according to NPR.

"'The Constitution, (Ginsburg) maintained, has to expand to cover more than the 'white, property-owning men' who once were 'we the people,'" wrote NPR's Nina Totenberg, who covered Ginsburg throughout her career on the Supreme Court.

Among their many disagreements were issues concerning the rights of minority groups. Ginsburg was the first justice to preside over a same-sex marriage, the Post reported. Scalia opposed the growing recognition of rights for gays and lesbians.

Ginsburg dissented in a case in which the high court struck down the part of the Voting Rights Act that required federal approval of changes to voting procedures in states with a history of racial discrimination, according to USA TODAY. Scalia called the act a "racial entitlement," according to the Post.

The justices did not let opposing views affect their friendship.

Ginsburg admitted to "tweaking" her opinion for the majority after reading Scalia's "spicy" dissent in a case, according to NPR.

Scalia said of Ginsburg, "What's not to like? Except her views on the law," according to USA TODAY.

Totenberg observed arguments between the justices were "spirited" but "fair."

"Not the way we see debates these days on television," she said during an NPR Politics podcast.

In a fitting ode to two opera lovers, the opera "Scalia/Ginsburg" was written in 2014 to celebrate their unlikely friendship. It premiered at the Castleton Festival in Virginia on July 11, 2015, according to the website of its composer, Derrick Wang.

"It opens with Scalia's rage aria," Ginsburg said of the opera, according to USA TODAY. "(Scalia) sings, 'The justices are blind, how can they possibly spout this? The Constitution says absolutely nothing about this!'"

"To which (Ginsburg) responded that the Constitution, like society, 'can evolve,'" USA TODAY's Richard Wolf wrote.

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Our rating: True

We rate this claim TRUE, based on our research. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia were close friends who spent time together outside the Supreme Court. The two shared many personal interests and even rode an elephant together while vacationing in India.

Our fact-check sources:

• USA TODAY, Sept. 20, 2020, "Opera, travel, food, law: The unlikely friendship of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia"

• USA TODAY, Feb. 14, 2016, "Supreme Court justices weigh in on Antonin Scalia's death"

• USA TODAY, Sept. 18, 2020, "Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies, setting up nomination fight"

• The New York Times, Feb. 13, 2016, "Antonin Scalia, Justice on the Supreme Court, Dies at 79"

• The Washington Post, Feb. 13, 2016, "What made the friendship between Scalia and Ginsburg work"

• USA TODAY, June 25, 2013, "Supreme Court strikes down key part of Voting Rights Act"

• NPR, Feb. 16, 2016, "Ginsburg And Scalia: 'Best Buddies'"

• The Washington Post, Sept. 23, 2020, "The day after her husband died, Ruth Bader Ginsburg went back to the Supreme Court"

• NPR, Feb. 13, 2015, "Justices Ginsburg And Scalia: A Perfect Match Except For Their Views On The Law"

• CNN, Feb. 13, 2015, "Ginsburg and Scalia on parasailing, elephants and not being '100% sober'"

• The World, Feb. 15, 2016, "What Scalia meant to Italian Americans"

• NPR, Sept. 18, 2020, "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87"

• USA TODAY, Feb. 13, 2016, "Justice Scalia found dead at Texas ranch"

• USA TODAY, Sept. 18, 2020, "Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Second woman on Supreme Court had been nation's leading litigator for women's rights"

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia were close friends