After the 2020 presidential election, some supporters of former President Trump displayed an upside-down American flag as a symbol for their baseless claim that President Biden had stolen the election.
A few weeks ago, The New York Times reported that one of those upside-down American flags was displayed outside the Alexandria, Va., home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Jan. 16, 2021.
Timing of the flag being displayed: That was 11 days after the pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol and three days before Biden’s inauguration. The Times pointed out that while that flag was displayed, the Supreme Court was still deciding “whether to hear a 2020 election case, with Justice Alito on the losing end of that decision.”
📸 Photo of the inverted flag flying outside Alito’s home in 2021
Justice Alito’s reaction to the Times report: “I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Alito told the Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
The story doesn’t end there: The New York Times reported on Wednesday that another controversial flag was flown at Alito’s Long Beach Island vacation home in New Jersey *last summer.* This was the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which dates back to the Revolutionary War and was carried by Jan. 6 rioters in 2021. It’s become a symbol for the “Stop the Steal” movement and a desire for a more Christian-minded government.
📸 Photo of the ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag flown at Alito’s vacation home in 2023
Why this raises huge (and timely!) questions: “In coming weeks, the justices will rule on two climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, including whether [Trump] has immunity for his actions. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election and his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.” (The New York Times)
Is this a conflict of interest?: At least 45 House Democrats seem to think so. They signed a letter calling for Alito to recuse himself from the two big cases related to Jan. 6 and Trump’s immunity. Read the letter. Plus, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called on Senate Democrats to investigate.
On the other side of the argument: Former national security adviser John Bolton defended Alito. “I think it is outrageous, outrageous and unacceptable, for people to take a flag from the American Revolution and say that because some Jan. 6 protesters flew it, that it’s now unacceptable to fly that flag, and I’d like to hear a Democratic Party politician say that expressly,” Bolton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
