Give Justice Scalia a Hand

When Justice Antonin Scalia received little consideration for promotion to Chief Justice, I wondered how well he'd take life as a second banana to John Roberts. Recent events suggest he isn't handling it well.

After making public remarks about Gitmo detentions that could force his recusal from an upcoming case, Scalia left a Catholic mass Sunday and made an obscene Sicilian gesture to a reporter.

Me Ne FregoAs he was leaving the mass, Scalia was tossed a softball question by a Boston Herald reporter about whether he takes flak for public displays of his Roman Catholic beliefs.

"You know what I say to those people?" Scalia, 70, replied, making an obscene gesture, flicking his hand under his chin ...

The press is being coy about the gesture, which was photographed by a church journalist whose newspaper won't publish the picture, but it appears that Scalia made the move depicted here, which means the same thing as me ne frego! (I don't give a damn).

The service he attended has been described in press reports as a "special Mass for lawyers and politicians." I didn't know the Catholic Church was singling out these groups for extra attention, but it makes a lot of sense.

Comments

I love this, the guy had the balls to state his real feelings in public. Too often, people in the public eye are reserved. I want to see more people tell reporters how they really feel about the assenine questions they ask.

You mean "asinine?" There is really nothing more asinine than Scalia himself...a**-clown.

Scalia only wants to make his balls semi-public:

"Don't publish that," Scalia told the photographer, the Herald said.

"Speak Italian With Your Hands" - i took a look, thats very intresting :)

I want to see more people tell reporters how they really feel about the assenine questions they ask.

The Sicilians have a saying, Nun vaja scusu cui simna spinni, chi poi si punci a la diminticata.

He that scatters thorns, let him not go barefoot.

It doesn't take much guts to say what you think when you're appointed for life -- nevertheless it is refreshing.

I would hardly call something that comes out to "I don't give a damn" an obscene gesture

I would hardly call something that comes out to "I don't give a damn" an obscene gesture

Yeah, man. Other supremos have done much worse through the years.
Brockholst Livingston
, for example, was known to flash The Shocker at womenfolk.

The guys a bonehead typical of the boneheads making the United States a sick joke!

Right, my impression is that "obscene gesture" seems overstating it - "*rude* gesture" would be more accurate.

Dahlia Lithwick cuts to the chase:

The press corps begins the day with a different question: What the hell has gotten into Justice Antonin Scalia? Between his extracurricular pronouncements on the arguments in this case and his extracurricular hand signals last weekend, nobody is quite sure what has come over the man. He is ever more the Bill O'Reilly of the High Court.

Heh. Indeed.

Another reasonable question is why were the journalist asking him questions after Mass. I am no fan of Scalia but this strikes me as less Boston Herarld and more ET!

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