Alito tells congressional Democrats he won’t recuse over flags

Responding to calls from Democrats in Congress, Justice Samuel Alito is flatly rejecting calls to recuse himself two cases before the Supreme Court involving Donald Trump because of two flags who flew out of their homes.

In letters Wednesday to House and Senate Democrats, Alito said he had nothing to do with the raising of the flags and that nothing about the incidents merited impeachment under the code of Conduct. Furthermore, he says, neither he nor his wife were aware of the meanings now being attributed to the flags.

“My wife and I own our home in Virginia. She therefore has the legal right to use the property as she sees fit, and there were no additional steps I could have taken to have the flag removed more quickly,” Alito wrote in the letters to Democrats.

Democrats took advantage New York Times reports that an upside-down American flag flew outside the Alitos’ Virginia home and a separate “Appeal to Heaven” flag flew outside their vacation home. They argued that the two incidents create an appearance of impropriety that requires Alito to recuse himself from any matters related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot or the 2020 election.

But going back to 2021, Alito has always said he had nothing to do with flying any flags, which he said was in his wife’s sole interest. He emphasized this point in both of his letters.

On the inverted American flag that flew briefly outside his Virginia home in 2021, he said in letters that he had asked her to take it down, and she eventually agreed to do so.

“My wife’s reasons for flying the flag are not relevant for present purposes,” he wrote, “but I know that she was very distressed at the time due, in large part, to a very unpleasant neighborhood dispute in which I had no involvement. ”.

Alito wrote that a house on the street displayed a sign personally attacking his wife, and a man who lived there at the time followed her down the street and “berated her in my presence using foul language, including what I consider to be the most vile epithet that can be addressed to a woman.”

“My wife is a private citizen and has the same First Amendment rights as any other American,” Alito continued. “She makes her own decisions and I have always respected her right to do so.”

This is consistent with the Alitos’ position since 2021, when they were confronted, upon leaving their home, by a Washington Post reporter who had been warned by a neighbor three years ago about the inverted flag.

When the reporter asked about the flag, the Post said Ms. Alito shouted, “it’s an international distress signal!”

The Post detailed the incident in an article on Saturday, explaining why it decided not to publish the story in 2021.

“The judge denied that the flag was hung upside down as a political protest, saying it resulted from a neighborhood dispute and indicating that his wife had flown it,” the Post said.

The Post went on to describe the reporter’s encounter with the Alitos outside their home in 2021, saying that Mrs. Alito told the reporter, in apparent reference to neighbors, “Ask them what they did!”

The Post reporter then watched as Mrs. Alito got out of her car “and then brought from her residence a novelty flag, the kind that would normally decorate a garden. She raised it to the pole. ‘There! Is that better?’ she screamed.”

This 2021 reporting is consistent with Tuesday’s most recent New York Times story detailing the neighborhood dispute. The Post said it did not publish the story because it was an ongoing neighborhood dispute with Mrs. Alito that did not implicate the courts.

On the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, Alito says it was also flown by Martha-Ann Alito. He said he had nothing to do with it and neither saw other meanings in the flags.

He also said that she did not fly to join “Stop the Steal” or any other group.

“As I said in reference to the other flag event, my wife is an independent-minded citizen,” Alito wrote. “She makes her own decisions, and I honor her right to do so. Our vacation home was purchased with money she inherited from her parents and is titled in her name. It’s a place, far from Washington, where she should be able to live. relax.”