"I think the proudest thing I have done on the bench is not allow myself to be chased off that case."

Said Justice Scalia, referring to the demands that he recuse himself in a case that involved Dick Cheney because he had gone on a vacation with him. I agree with him about recusal, but I'd like to examine this additional remark:

"For Pete's sake, if you can't trust your Supreme Court justice more than that, get a life."

"Get a life" is not an Italian hand gesture, it's an American idiomatic expression, so we speakers of contemporary American English have some expertise here. Isn't "Get a life" a tad rude? Or are you going to say "Get a life" to me for asking?

Anyway, these comments took place at the University of Connecticut Law School, where some students felt the need to protest:

Some gay rights activists set up a same-sex kissing booth outside the lecture hall. They said they believe some of Scalia's opinions amount to attacks on gays, women and other minorities.

"His visit opened a lot of conversation on this campus," said third-year law student Colby Smith, who was wearing an "I Kiss Boys" T-shirt. "We want to make sure people understand what the concerns are with him, and why his views are particularly offensive."

I tend to think that if he were asked he'd say that in his role as a judge he's happy to concede for the sake of argument that boys kissing boys eliminates social tensions and ought to be encouraged.

It is blindingly clear judges have no greater capacity than the rest of us to determine what is moral.

That's the Scaliaesque attitude.