The display of an upside-down American flag at the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has sparked a vigorous debate over judicial ethics and prompted calls for his recusal from cases related to the January 6 Capitol riot and the 2020 election.
The flag, typically a sign of “political distress,” has been notably linked to the “Stop the Steal” movement, raising serious questions about impartiality at the nation’s highest court.
Citing interviews with neighbors, the Times reports that the “Appeal to Heaven” flag was seen on display at his property last summer. The flag is white and includes a green evergreen tree and the words “An Appeal to Heaven” at the top.
Rep. Jamie Raskin highlighted the situation as a “very clear conflict of interest,” underscoring the flag’s political connotations and Alito’s subsequent attempts to dissociate from the act by attributing it to his wife.
“What we need is to have, at the very least an ethics panel of Federal Circuit judges from around the country who we can bring complaints to of bias in the event, in very likely event that Justice Alito does not decide to heed the calls to recuse himself from this case,” Raskin said on Saturday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Friday called on Alito to apologize for “disrespecting the American flag and sympathizing with right-wing violent insurrectionists.”
“He must recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election and ‘former President Trump’,” Jeffries continued, referring to Alito. He added that Congress should consider new ethics reform legislation for the high court.
Likewise, former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin criticized the incident, noting that if after Donald Trump won in 2016, Justice [Sonia Sotomayor] hung a flag upside down on her front lawn, we, Republicans, would be calling for her resignation,” Farah Griffin said Sunday.
“I find it deeply disturbing, and I don‘t think we can gloss over it,” she added.
Democrats, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), have joined in the chorus, urging Alito to recuse himself from related cases.
Justice Alito has denied direct involvement with the flag, stating that it was “briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.” Despite this assertion, the political fallout continues.
Critics, including MSNBC host Jen Psaki, have underscored the erosion of trust in the Supreme Court, with Psaki emphasizing that “the court’s legitimacy isn’t a given, it’s earned.”
Relevant articles:
– Raskin on upside-down flag at Alito home: ‘It’s a very clear conflict of interest’, thehill.com, 05/20/2024
– MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Calls Out Justice Samuel Alito’s Hypocrisy for Flying Upside-Down US Flag | Video, Yahoo News Canada, 05/19/2024
– Farah Griffin: If Sotomayor flew upside-down flag GOP would call for her resignation, Yahoo New Zealand News, 05/17/2024
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