Scalia denies rude gesture in church

BOSTON, March 29 (UPI) -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is denying he made a rude one-finger gesture to a reporter in church, and claims it was a different Sicilian gesture.

In a letter to the editor of the Boston Herald, Scalia also suggested the reporter was watching too many episodes of "The Sopranos," the newspaper reported Wednesday.

Sunday, a reporter asked Scalia what he thought of critics who questioned his ability to maintain separation of church and state. In Monday's report, the newspaper said he raised a hand beneath his chin in a rude gesture.

"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.)," Scalia wrote.

He went on to quote 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.'"