Washington, D.C. During the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, rioters carried a second flag of the same type. The New York Times reported Wednesday that this flag was seen outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
Last summer, a “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown outside Alito’s beach house. A symbol of the protesters, an upside-down American flag, was seen at Alito’s home outside of Washington, D.C., less than two weeks after the violent attack on the Capitol.
When people heard about the American flag that was turned upside down last week, it caused a huge uproar. Some high-ranking Democrats even asked Alito to stay out of cases involving former President Donald Trump.
People asked Alito and the court to explain how the “Appeal to Heaven” flag got there and what it was meant to say, but they didn’t. He had said before that the American flag flying upside down was his wife’s idea during a fight with his neighbors and that he had nothing to do with it.
Three pictures given to the Times show that the white flag with a green pine tree was seen flying at the Alito beach house in New Jersey. The pictures were taken at different times in July and September 2023. It wasn’t clear how long it was flying or how long Alito was there.
The flag has a history that goes back to the American Revolution, but in recent years it has become linked to Christian nationalism and support for Trump. It was led by rioters who were motivated by Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement and false claims of election fraud.
The flag has also been flown by Republicans in Congress and state officials. Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, hung it in his office last fall, soon after becoming speaker. A spokesman for the speaker said that the speaker likes the flag’s long history and that it was given to him by a pastor who was a guest chaplain for the House.
Alito is currently involved in two cases related to January 6 that are still being heard by the Supreme Court. The first is about whether Trump can be prosecuted for trying to change the results of the 2020 election, and the second is about whether rioters can be charged with a certain type of obstruction. He also helped the court come to the unanimous decision that the “insurrection clause” added to the Constitution after the Civil War can’t be used by states to keep Trump from running for office.
There have been no signs that Alito will step down from the cases.
There have been calls for another conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, to stay out of cases that have to do with the 2020 election because his wife, Virginia Thomas, is supporting efforts to overturn Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden.
On the other hand, trust in the Supreme Court recently hit its lowest point in at least fifty years.
Judicial ethics codes stress that judges should be impartial and not give their political views or opinions on issues they may be asked to decide. The Supreme Court didn’t have its own code of ethics for a long time, but in November 2023, after years of criticism over trips and gifts from wealthy donors to some justices that weren’t made public, it finally did. But the code doesn’t have a way to protect itself.
