The Scalia-obscene-gesture thing has legs here in Boston

:)

Boston Herald has it on the cover today.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=132656

Scalia seeks Justice over gesture
By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - Updated: 07:04 AM EST

Famously feisty Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia yesterday denied that he made an obscene gesture Sunday inside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, accusing the Herald staff of “watching too many Sopranos episodes.”

In a letter to the editor, an almost unheard-of step for a Supreme Court justice, Scalia said a reporter misinterpreted the gesture he made when she asked whether his participation in Sunday’s special Mass for lawyers might cause some people to question his impartiality in matters of church and state.

“Your reporter, an up-and-coming ‘gotcha’ star named Laurel J. Sweet, asked me (o-so-sweetly) what I said to those people. . .,” Scalia wrote to Executive Editor Kenneth A. Chandler. “I responded, jocularly, with a gesture that consisted of fanning the fingers of my right hand under my chin. Seeing that she did not understand, I said, ‘That’s Sicilian,’ and explained its meaning.”

In his letter, Scalia goes on to cite Luigi Barzini’s book, “The Italians”: “ ‘The extended fingers of one hand moving slowly back and forth under the raised chin means: “I couldn’t care less. It’s no business of mine. Count me out.” ’ ”

“From watching too many episodes of the Sopranos, your staff seems to have acquired the belief that any Sicilian gesture is obscene - especially when made by an ‘Italian jurist.’ (I am, by the way, an American jurist.)”

...more...

Scalia apparently is Italian for "pompous asshat."

Can he communicate at all without sounding like a bitter and mean old man?

He's an arrogant thug in a robe

Even if the reporter's question was impertinent, it is incumbent on public officials to act with decorum. If a British or Australian judge did something similar, it is likely s/he would at least be forced to issue a public apology. A letter to a newspaper defending the indefensible would be taken as an aggravation of the initial offence. Guilty as charged. Lock the old bastard up and throw away the key.

Or does that have a differnt meaning too?

photograph. A little sunlight might clear things up.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2195687

and Scalia's LTTE is included in this DU LBN thread too . . .

He also seems to feel he's completely untouchable. He may have a surprise coming. If he keeps acting this way, a lot of people are going to wonder if he's fit for the job.

here in California too .

Talked with my mom and she's been traveling a bunch
not really keeping up with news , but she knew about
scalia's gesture .