Christian Smith
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 defendants because of the controversy over the flags flying over their homes.
In letters to members of Congress on Wednesday, Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann, was responsible for flying an inverted flag over their home in 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at their New Jersey beach house in 2021. last year. Both flags were similar to those carried by protesters who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021, while echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
None of the incidents at Alito’s homes merited his recuse, wrote the judge, who has rejected calls from Democrats in the past to recuse himself on other issues.
“I am confident that a reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or the desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that the events… do not meet the applicable standard for recusal,” he wrote. “Therefore, I am obliged to reject your request.”
Supreme Court justices decide for themselves whether to stay out of a case and the only potential consequence of refusing to resign is impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal from office by the Senate. This has never happened in American history.
Trump, who was in New York while jurors deliberated in his silent criminal trial, congratulated Alito for “showing INTELLIGENCE, COURAGE and ‘guts’” by refusing to step aside. “All U.S. judges, justices and leaders should have such a GRIT,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Some Senate Republicans also quickly took to social media on Wednesday to praise Alito for remaining involved in the cases.
The court is considering two key cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack by a mob of Trump supporters on the Capitol, including the charges the rioters face and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges.
The New York Times reported that an inverted American flag was seen at Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, less than two weeks after the attack on the Capitol. The newspaper also reported that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown outside the judge’s New Jersey beach house last summer.
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag has, in recent years, come to symbolize sympathies with the Christian nationalist movement and the false claim that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen from Trump. According to Americanflags.com, the pine tree on the flag symbolized strength and resilience in the New England colonies, while the words “Appeal to Heaven” derived from the belief that God would free the colonists from tyranny.
An inverted American flag has become a symbol associated with Trump’s false claims of fraud. Dozens of pro-Trump protesters carried similar inverted flags and shouted slogans such as “Stop the Steal” on January 6, 2021. The U.S. Flag Code states that the American flag shall not be flown upside down “except as a signal of extreme suffering in case of extreme danger to life or property.” The inverted flag has been used as a symbol of protest by both the left and right on a range of issues over the decades.
Alito said he didn’t know the inverted flag was flying above his home until it was brought to his attention. “As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days she refused,” he wrote in nearly identical letters to Democrats in the House and Senate.
He had previously explained to the newspaper that his wife raised the flag as part of a nasty neighborhood dispute.
The flag on his beach house was also raised by his wife, Alito wrote, noting that the house is in her name and was purchased with money she inherited from her parents.
“My wife likes to raise flags. I’m not,” he wrote.
Alito said he was unfamiliar with the “Appeal to Heaven” flag when it was flown, but noted that it dates back to the American Revolution. “I was not aware of any connection between this historic flag and the ‘Stop the Steal Movement’ and neither was my wife,” Alito wrote.
He said Martha-Ann Alito did not fly that flag to associate herself with the protesters or the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which Trump, a Republican, lost to Joe Biden, a Democrat.
Calling her an independent citizen, Alito wrote, “She makes her own decisions and I honor her right to do so.”
Democrats in the House and Senate sent a total of three letters last week to Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts requesting Alito’s disqualification from the cases. The senators requested a meeting with Roberts.
Alito said it was better for him to answer directly.
Judicial codes of ethics focus on the need for judges to be independent, avoiding political statements or opinions on issues they may be called upon to decide. The Supreme Court has long lacked its own code of ethics, but adopted one in November 2023 in the face of ongoing criticism over undisclosed travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some judges.
However, the code lacks enforcement, and the Senate Judiciary Committee passed legislation last year that would set stricter standards. But Republicans have staunchly opposed any efforts to tell the court what to do.
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