Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home displayed an upside-down American flag, symbolizing MAGA’s ‘Stop The Steal’ campaign, as the Supreme Court weighed a 2020 election case.
The inverted flag has been used as a sign of support for former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
A photo shows the inverted flag flying in front of the judge’s house on January 17, 2021, days after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6. according to a New report in The New York Times.
On January 6, dozens of rioters carried similarly inverted flags and chanted slogans such as “Stop the steal.”
The report raises concerns about Alito’s impartiality as the Supreme Court considers two major cases related to the attack, including what charges the rioters face and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution for election interference charges.
An inverted American flag, a symbol associated with former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud, was displayed in front of the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021.
Judicial experts said the flag outside Alito’s home clearly violates ethical rules established to avoid even the appearance of bias.
At the time the flag was flying, the court was still considering whether it would take cases related to the 2020 election.
He ultimately rejected them over the dissent of three conservative justices, including Alito, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush.
He wrote that the court’s consideration of the cases would have no impact on the 2020 election but would “provide invaluable guidance for future elections.”
Alito, for his part, acknowledged the presence of the flag at his home in Alexandria, Virginia, but said it was placed there by his wife.
“I had no involvement in the raising of the flag,” Alito said in a statement emailed to the newspaper. “Ms. Alito briefly posted it in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
Martha-Ann Alito had been in a dispute with another neighborhood family over an anti-Trump sign in their yard, and neighbors also interpreted the flag as a political statement, the Times reported. It is unclear how long the flag was flying.
Codes of judicial ethics focus on the need for judges to be independent, avoiding political statements or opinions on matters they may have to decide.
The inverted flag (file photo) has been used as a sign of support for former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
The Supreme Court had long been without its own ethical code, but adopted one in November 2023 amid sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some judges. However, the code lacks means to enforce the law.
Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia, told the newspaper that flying the flag upside down is “the equivalent of putting a ‘Stop the Steal’ sign in your yard, which is a problem if you’re making decisions related to the elections”. cases.’
Even if it was placed by your spouse or someone else who lives in the house, “you shouldn’t have it in your yard as your message to the world,” he said.
The Supreme Court has warned its own employees about public demonstrations that indicate partisan leanings, the newspaper reported. The court did not respond to questions about whether those rules apply to judges.
The United States Flag Code states that the American flag should not be flown upside down “except as a sign of extreme distress in case of extreme danger to life or property.”
It has been used as a symbol of protest on both the left and right on a variety of issues over the decades. He took off as a symbol of Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign, when he spread false claims that the election he lost to President Joe Biden had been stolen.
It comes as another conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, has ignored calls to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election. for the support of his wife, Ginni Thomas for Trump and as a public confidence in the supreme court It is at its lowest point in at least 50 years.