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Alito Whacks Sopranos' Themes

Italian-Americans' real story overshadowed, complains justice

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 14, 2008 11:19 AM CST

(Newser) – US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito isn't going to fuhgeddabout all the negative stereotypes concerning Italian-Americans spread by shows like The Sopranos. "You have a trifecta—gangsters, Italian-Americans, New Jersey—wedded in the popular American imagination" and overshadowing the true stories, the New Jersey native complained yesterday to an audience at Rutgers University.

Alito said the real story of Italian-Americans highlighted the "true nature" of the US "as a nation of immigrants." The conservative judge reflected on how his own father and grandmother came from Italy, arriving close to where he later served as a federal judge. "The contrast of what I was doing there and what they looked like disembarking to prominent Philadelphians is very striking to me," he said.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito applauds after President Bush made remarks at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Friday, April 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito applauds after President Bush made remarks at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Friday, April 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)   (Associated Press)
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito looks around as he prepares to speak to a gathering Wednesday Feb. 13, 2008, at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., about his Italian roots.  (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito looks around as he prepares to speak to a gathering Wednesday Feb. 13, 2008, at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., about his Italian roots. (AP Photo/Mel...   (Associated Press)
Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., smiles at someone in the audience during a luncheon of the National Italian American Foundation Public Policy Forum, Wednesday, June 13, 2007, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., smiles at someone in the audience during a luncheon of the National Italian American Foundation Public Policy Forum, Wednesday, June 13, 2007, on Capitol...   (Associated Press)
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