The White House on Friday criticized Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s having an upside-down American flag flying outside his home, saying President Joe Biden treats the flag with respect.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president believes “the American flag is sacred and we should respect it.”
The inverted flag, symbolizing MAGA’s ‘Stop The Steal’ campaign, flew in front of Alito’s home in 2021 as the Supreme Court weighed a 2020 election case. It has been used as a sign of support for former President Donald’s false claims Trump that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
But Jean-Pierre declined to weigh in on whether or not Alito should recuse himself from any current election-related cases, even after some judicial experts said that calls Alito’s impartiality into question.
‘I don’t want to get into the matter of the specific actions that the judges must take in that Supreme Court, whether they should recuse themselves or not,’ he said in his daily press conference. ‘That is something that corresponds to the court in general, they have to make that decision. “That’s something we’re not going to intervene in.”
The White House said President Joe Biden treats the American flag with respect
A photo shows the inverted flag flying in front of the judge’s house in Alexandria, Virginia, 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.
Alito blamed his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, for flying the flag.
He told Fox News that a neighbor had put up a sign reading “Fuck Trump” near a school bus stop and then a sign attacking his wife. On a walk, the judge said, the Alitos argued with the neighbor, who used the term ‘c**t’ at one point. Then his wife raised the inverted flag.
Alito told Fox News that he had no role in the flag decision and that it was flying outside his property only “for a short time.”
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.
“I don’t want to get into the issue of specific actions that Supreme Court justices should take, whether they should recuse themselves or not,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her daily briefing.
Judicial experts said the flag outside Alito’s home clearly violates ethical rules established to avoid even the appearance of bias.
Democrat Dick Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said: “Flying an American flag upside down – a symbol of the so-called ‘Stop the Steal’ movement – clearly creates the appearance of bias.”
Durbin said Alito should recuse himself from two cases currently pending before the Supreme Court involving the 2020 election.
The first is Trump’s attempt to gain immunity from prosecution on federal criminal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 loss.
The second case involves a challenge by a Pennsylvania man to a federal criminal obstruction charge he faces for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
The case has implications for Trump, who faces the same charge in the election-related criminal case brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith.
“The court finds itself in an ethical crisis of its own making, and Justice Alito and the rest of the court should do everything in their power to regain the public’s trust,” Durbin said.
At the time the flag was flying in front of Alito’s home, the court was still considering whether it would accept cases related to the 2020 election.
He ultimately rejected them over the dissent of three conservative justices, including Alito, who was appointed to the court 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.”
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 New York Times 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 deciding the elections”. -Related 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.
The controversy surrounding Alito 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.
