How do you solve a problem like Scalia?

(Part ten gazillion in an ongoing series : Scalia Knows Obscenity When He Does It Edition.)

Oddjob tipped me off to this post at AMERICAblog which reports that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was busted making an obscene gesture to a reporter's question right after leaving church.

When a reporter asked him "if he faces much questioning over impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state," Scalia replied, "You know what I say to those people?" then made the gesture and added, "That's Sicilian."

John Aravosis notes, "If a 'gay activist' had done this, it would be the headlines around the world and the gay community would be apologizing for it for the next 20 years." Too true.

But it's certainly reassuring to know that, in the face of such a double-standard, at least we can find comfort in knowing one of the justices on the nation's highest court has no compunction about publicly airing his disregard for Constitutional guarantees. I mean, if we're going to let pharmacists invoke conscience clauses so they don't have to do the parts of their job they find morally objectionable, surely we should extend the same nicety to the hardworking members of our Supreme Court.

(Crossposted at AlterNet PEEK.)