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.

[shingles1]

It''''s a show about the Italian Mafia. Who were they supposed to cast, Germans?
Posted by rafterman1

Nothing else really needs to be said.

[walt1944-2009]

Justice Alito of the USSA Supreme Court (and a neocon Fascist Nazi "Bushie"), is angry at the old television series, "The Sopranos", because the show sterotypes Italians.

It is highly surprising that Alito has not said anything sooner about the show which has been on cable TV for the past 5 years, but perhaps the highly paid "Bushie" judge does not subscribe to cable or Dish TV, or has been too busy to bother about it.

Apparently, the judge''s schedule has opened up enough to have him occupy himself with such trival pursuits, much like Congress is wrapped up in pursuing hanging Roger Clemons by his thumbs, a form of "advanced interrogation" which the CIA and federal law enforcement are eagerly awaiting to use on a victim!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!

[j_flood]

I''m an Irish American - I deplore characterizations of us as drunks and fighting all the time. He''s right in a way - but go to Sicily - home of the Mafia - it sure as hell isn''t in Brazil.

Two things always amaze me - 1) Americans fascination with WWII and Hitler, and 2) American''s fascination with the mob. Some people like to see how close Hitler came to winning, and how the mob behaves. Hmmmm - what does that say about us?

[oleander8]

Hang it up Alito - we had this ridiculous fight in the 70''s.

[kofiananimus]

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.

[tucano2]

When it walks like a dog, wags its tail like a dog, barks like a dog, sniffs rear ends like a dog, guess what? It''s like as not to be a dog.
What''s with this guy? Is he so anti-American to deny what is in fact so?

[observer2020]

Come on...this is not "reality" TV...it''s fake! If you can''t get over the Italian-American-Mafia association in a TV drama, then you need to change your Italian name to Smith or Jones (not offending those who have those last names) and move out of NJ. I''m an Italian-American who also just so happens to live in NJ and was extremely entertained by the Soprano''s. I took it at its face value--entertainment. If you don''t like it...change the channel. What a world we live in!

[bm6005]

I''d rather have Tony Soprano in the WH than the d ick who''s there now!!

[taddles-2009]

LOL...so a lying scum-bag thug is offended by the portrayal of the mafioso as lying scum-bag thugs. What a nasty little *** he is.

[olebd]

Waaah...so, the show isn''t PC enough for him. You know what? I lived in that area for 5 years and I do remember a lot of guys being kind of like Tony Soprano in their mannerisms. I still consider them to be some of the nicest people I have ever known. I don''t know if they were involved with the mafia. Nobody talked about it. The sopranos is a great show. Leave it alone.