Supreme Court Justice Scalia's rude gesture sparks debate in Boston.Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia found himself the subject of some unwanted media attention in late March after he made a crude gesture in response to a reporter's question while leaving a religious service in Boston. Scalia was walking out of a special mass for members of the legal profession at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross The Cathedral of the Holy Cross is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the largest church in New England [1]. The cathedral was designed by Patrick Keely, an American nineteenth century ecclesiastical architect. March 26 when Boston Herald The Boston Herald is a tabloid format newspaper, though not a tabloid in the traditional sense, and is the smaller of the two big dailies in Boston, Massachusetts (the other being The Boston Globe). reporter Laurel J. Sweet asked him how he deals with those who complain about his public displays of religiosity re·li·gi·os·i·ty n. 1. The quality of being religious. 2. Excessive or affected piety. Noun 1. religiosity - exaggerated or affected piety and religious zeal religiousism, pietism, religionism . "You know what I say to those people?" Scalia said, making a gesture with his fingers under his chin. When Sweet appeared perplexed, Scalia explained, "That's Sicilian." Scalia added, "It's none of their business. This is my spiritual life. I shall lead it the way I like." Peter Smith, a freelance photographer for the Boston Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese arch·di·o·cese n. The district under an archbishop's jurisdiction. arch  di·oc , captured the moment on film and later told reporters he heard Scalia utter an expletive. Smith later gave his photo to the Herald, which published it. He was then dismissed by the Pilot. Not surprisingly, Scalia disputed the turn of events. On March 29, the Herald printed a letter from Scalia that read in part, "It has come to my attention that your newspaper published a story on Monday stating that I made an obscene gesture--inside Holy Cross Cathedral, no less. The story is false...." Scalia called Sweet "an up-and-coming 'gotcha' star" and explained that the gesture he used merely means "that I could not care less." Added Scalia, "How could your reporter leap to the conclusion (contrary to my explanation) that the gesture was obscene? ... 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 A judge or legal scholar; an individual who is versed or skilled in law. The term jurist is ordinarily applied to individuals who have gained respect and recognition by their writings on legal topics. jurist n. .' (I am, by the way, an American jurist.)" The exact meaning of Scalia's gesture remains in dispute. In an effort to clear up the matter, the Herald consulted with several Italian-American actors who play mobsters Mobsters is a 1991 crime drama detailing the creation of the National Crime Syndicate/The Commission. Set in New York City during the Prohibition era, it's a somewhat fictionalized account of rise of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Benjamin "Bugsy" on HBO's popular crime drama "The Sopranos." "It's an obscenity obscenity, in law, anything that tends to corrupt public morals by its indecency. The moral concepts that the term connotes vary from time to time and from place to place. In the United States, the word obscenity is a technical legal term. In the 1950s the U.S. ," said Joseph Gannascoli who plays a crime boss on the program. "It's something you would do after paying a bookie but not something you would do in church." |
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