Photographer Canned In Scalia Flap

Supreme Court Justice Denies Making Obscene Gesture In Cathedral

(CBS/AP)  A freelance photographer who snapped a photo of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia making a controversial gesture inside a Catholic cathedral has been canned by the Archdiocese of Boston, the Boston Herald reports.

The newspaper has been involved in a war of words with Scalia over the meaning of a gesture he made in response to question from a Herald reporter.

The Herald said the justice made "an obscene gesture, flicking his hand under his chin" in response to a question about whether lawyers might question his impartiality in matters of church and state. The incident occurred after he attended Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

Scalia fired off an angry letter to the Herald accused the newspaper's staff of watching "too many episodes of the Sopranos" for interpreting a hand gesture he made at a cathedral as obscene.

On Thursday, the Herald published a photo of Scalia making the hand gesture, and on Friday reported that the freelance photographer who snapped the picture had been let go by the Archdiocese of Boston.

“I did the right thing. I did the ethical thing” in releasing the photo, the Herald quoted photographer Peter Smith as saying.

Smith, 51, an assistant photojournalism professor at Boston University, told the newspaper that he decided to release the photo after learning of Scalia's denial. He said the Herald “got the story right.”

Scalia said in his letter that the gesture was not obscene at all, but dismissive. Scalia said he had explained the gesture's meaning to no avail to the reporter, whom he referred to as "an up-and-coming 'gotcha' star."

"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.)," he wrote. The Herald had referred to Scalia as an "Italian-American jurist."

Smith worked for the Pilot, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese. A spokesman said Smith was dismissed for violating the Pilot's decision not to publish Scalia photo.

“Because he breached that trust with the editor, we will no longer engage his services as a freelance photographer,” the spokesman said, according to the Herald