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Dallas Barber Remembers Scalia's Haircut At Shop

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DALLAS (CBS 11) — Justice Antonin Scalia sparked strong opinions about him among the public, and on a recent trip to Dallas he made a strong impression at a Dallas barber shop, where he found himself in the chair of one of his biggest fans.

Ivan Havins doesn't usually take appointments at Lovers Lane Barber Shop, but he made an exception about three weeks ago when he says a U.S. Marshal showed up on a Saturday morning asking if he could come back with an important customer.

"So anyway eleven o'clock the Secret Service comes in and Scalia comes in, and bingo, that's when I found out," Havins said.

Havins isn't sure who referred Scalia to him, but he was happy to cut his hair.

"It's a real honor. It's a real privilege. I mean that just doesn't happen," Havins said.

Havins remembers Scalia telling him he was in town to speak at SMU, where the justice was a frequent visitor.

"He loved standing up before our students, and our students loved learning about the law from Justice Scalia," SMU law professor Jeffrey Kahn said.

Kahn believes Scalia's legacy will not only be his promotion of the originalist legal philosophy, but his personal friendships with justices who had very different outlooks.

"Justice Scalia had very strong views, and he was very good at articulating his positions, but he was able to distinguish between the views he held and the people who held opposing views to him," Kahn said.

And even for those like Havins who only got to meet him once, Scalia is someone who will never be forgotten.

"He was just an average guy really, but he was far from average, you know he was a giant up there," Havins said.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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