Justice Alito Whacks "The Sopranos"

Supreme Court Justice: HBO Mob Drama Spreads Stereotypes About Italian-Americans

(AP)  Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. has convicted "The Sopranos" of spreading what he says are stereotypes about Italian-Americans.

During a visit to Rutgers University on Wednesday, Alito complained that the hit HBO television drama not only associated Italian-Americans with the Mafia, but New Jerseyans, as well.

"You have a trifecta - gangsters, Italian-Americans, New Jersey - wedded in the popular American imagination," Alito said at an event sponsored by the Italian studies program at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey.

Alito, himself an Italian-American, lived for nearly two decades in a West Caldwell home in the same area of New Jersey where the fictional Tony Soprano lived.

Alito told the gathering of about 100 people that a friend in California once sent him a map of "Sopranos"-related locations. "He wanted me to put down where my house was on the map," Alito said to laughs.

Alito's comments about "The Sopranos," which went off the air last year, were part of a talk in which the New Jersey native lamented that there are too many stereotypes about Italians in the United States.

He said the real story of Italian people who came here, some succeeding and some failing and going back to Italy, needed to be preserved because it told something about the United States' "true nature as a nation of immigrants."

Alito, 57, was born in Trenton, grew up in Hamilton Township and attended Princeton University before going to law school at Yale. Last year, Alito and his wife moved from West Caldwell to northern Virginia to be closer to his new job.

Since taking his seat on the court in January 2006, Alito has generally sided with other conservative members of the court, including fellow Trenton native, Antonin Scalia.

[plusbbcather]

I don''''t think the comparision is completely off base when you consider how many times Justice Alito has wacked the Constitution during the last two years.
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[artrick-2009]

The so called Mafia never existed it was all in the minds of writers and producers in hollywood. All the news items people saw were made up by the news corps to sell ads. he he he.

[mrmazerati]

Judge Alito sleeps with the fishes. Sorry, couldn''t help it.

[mcvet]

I don''''t think the comparision is completely off base when you consider how many times Justice Alito has wacked the Constitution during the last two years.
Posted by koko98 at 02:10 PM : Feb 14, 2008
+ report abuse

Very good point. I''ll bet the jerk wouldn''t have problem one if it were some Religious freak putting down Blacks in the south.

[teirtat]

Hey KoKo98 thats freaking funny

[shortmama2]

Very interesting article, and well presented.
Of course it''s a touchy subject, but one has to
view it as objectively as possible. I''m a New
Jerseyite and a member of a
minority, so I can empathize.

[terrapin78]

How about a follow-up question asking Alito if he''''s also against something like naming sports teams "Redskins" an such. I''''m curious to know if his opinion is consistent or if he''''s a giant hypocrite.
Posted by kofiananimus at 12:30 PM : Feb 14, 2008

I betting on the latter.

Hypocrite!

[summarex]

This is a serious news story.
Why are you presenting it like so much gossip.

You defame every group of people in this country. You''re gonna get yours soon enough.

[byeneocons]

Fuggetaboutit!

[oeangus]

C''mon people. By season 3 of The Sopranos I was thinking there was just way too much hollywood-style stereo-typing. Not offensive, but certainly cliche.