The bird's the word, in any language

Justice Scalia flips the finger in church

BOSTON, March 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger to his critics.

A Boston Herald reporter asked the 70-year-old conservative Roman Catholic if he faces much questioning over impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state.

"You know what I say to those people?" Scalia replied, making the obscene gesture and explaining "That's Sicilian."

The 20-year veteran of the high court was caught making the gesture by a photographer with The Pilot, the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper.

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

Tip o' the hat to the Arkansas Daily Blog for this one.

But then, did he really "flip the bird" or did he give the Sicilian "chin chuck"? Stop the ACLU says it was the latter, but in any event, "I say, so what if he did? They deserved it. WTH are they doing pestering him with those kind of questions right outside of a Church anyway?"