On September 26, 1986, during the swearing-in ceremony for William H. Rehnquist as Chief Justice and Antonin Scalia as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, President Reagan said, “Today we mark one of those moments of passage and renewal that has kept our Republic alive and strong — as Lincoln called it, the last, best hope of man on Earth — for all the years since its founding. One Chief Justice of our Supreme Court has stepped down, and together with a new Associate Justice, another has taken his place. As the Constitution requires, they’ve been nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and they’ve taken the oath of office that is required by the Constitution itself — the oath ‘to support and defend the Constitution of the United States . . . so help me God.’”

– Ronald Reagan