|
Gee, when some people “flip” someone off, it’s called an obscene gesture and some people even get arrested for it.
But when a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court allegedly flips someone off, its called an Italian hand gesture.
Is that what they call “spin”?
Last weekend as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was leaving Sunday church services, he was asked a question by a reporter and thereafter, according to the Boston Herald, Scalia “made an obscene gesture under his chin”.
What’s the matter with you? You didn’t understand. It wasn’t an obscene gesture at all, a Supreme Court spokeperson said. “It was a hand-off the chin gesture that was meant to be dismissive”. Supposedly his gesture is frequently used in Boston by Italians to displeasure with someone---from mild to deep irritation.
In Boston? We think similar gestures are pretty much nationwide, not confined just to Boston and probably most people know what it means.
As Scalia was leaving a Catholic church Sunday, a reporter asked him if he had to deal with much flak related to his conservative Catholic beliefs. Scalia made his gesture after saying, “you know what I say to those people?”
That’s some display of dignity, tolerance and integrity Scalia shows in his position as a justice on the nation’s highest court.
We recently read an opinion of Scalia which we found appropriate, saying he’s an arrogant, self-absorbed, hypocrite who lauds the traditional underpinning of the federal constitution while he’s busy undermining it.
One of the situations which underscores that description occurred a couple of years ago at the Presbyterian Christian High School in Hattiesburg, Miss., when Scalia was discussing the protections of the First Amendment while federal marshals were harassing two student reporters by taking and erasing their electronic recordings of his speech.
You see, Scalia has this standing order that you can’t videotape or audiotape him.
Now we know why. He doesn’t want TV news showing clips of him at noon and 6 flipping off at church. How crass of a Supreme Court Justice.
Can’t wait for an obscene gesture case to go before the Supreme Court but then flipping off is protected expression regardless of who’s doing it.
Scalia is a prima facie reason why federal judges shouldn’t be appointed for life.
Better yet, he’s a prime example of judicial independence gone amok.
3-28-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
|
