The One Big Issue Antonin Scalia Consistently Got Right

Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was often at the heart of some of the most divisive rulings of modern times, but there's one core issue where he had definite crossover appeal: pizza.

Scalia, who died over the weekend at the age of 79, consistently ruled that the one "true" pizza is the New York style thin-crust pie, which is derived from traditional Neapolitan pizza.

Chicago's beloved deep dish, on the other hand, isn't really pizza at all.

"It's very tasty, but it's not pizza," he said in 2014, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Scalia made similar remarks in 2011, telling California Lawyer magazine that New York pizza is "infinitely better" than Chicago's deep dish:

"You know these deep-dish pizzas -- it's not pizza. It's very good, but ... call it tomato pie or something. ... I'm a traditionalist, what can I tell you?"

Scalia also ruled that there are specific guidelines to "real" pizza -- and deep dish doesn't make the cut.

"Real pizza is Neapolitan," he told the Sun-Times. "It is thin. It is chewy and crispy, OK?"

Scalia may be subject to some regional bias since he was born in New Jersey and spent most of his youth in New York, but he's clearly issuing a majority opinion in this case.

A 2014 survey by Zagat found that New York pizza is far and away the nation's most popular style, with 39 percent of the vote. The closely-related Neapolitan style was second with 17 percent while deep dish ranked a distant third with 9 percent.

Chicago's version of a thin-crust pizza was nearly as popular as deep dish with 7 percent while New Haven, Sicilian and California styles rounded out the list.

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