Judges and justices are supposed to be impartial arbiters of conflicting claims. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is not. The New York Times reported that an upside-down flag flew in front of Justice Alito’s home after the 2020 election. That symbolism was adopted as a protest by Trump’s zealous and disappointed fans. Alito was one of them. He blamed his wife, as if he had no decisions about what flag was flying in his front yard. How can he be expected to rule impartially on cases about that election?
After the 2020 presidential election, as some Trump supporters falsely claimed that President Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars and in online posts: an upside-down American flag.
One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors.
The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. Mr. Biden’s inauguration was three days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some of which were recently obtained by The New York Times. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.
While the flag was up, the court was still contending with whether to hear a 2020 election case, with Justice Alito on the losing end of that decision. In coming weeks, the justices will rule on two climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, including whether Mr. Trump has immunity for his actions. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election and his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.
“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to The Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
Judicial experts said in interviews that the flag was a clear violation of ethics rules, which seek to avoid even the appearance of bias, and could sow doubt about Justice Alito’s impartiality in cases related to the election and the Capitol riot.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Elections have consequences.
Democrats must take back the House, keep control of the Senate and obviously retain the White House. When this is accomplished, it is in our national interest to then expand the Supreme Court. If we do that then we will have positive consequences if not, the negative consequences will result in an end to our Democratic Republic.
We are at a dangerous tipping point.
Agreed
I read recently that the current conservative control of SCOTUS will last until 2060
Heaven help us
Can’t we all just stop with this nonsense of getting people riled up!!!??? This was 4 years ago and now someone “on a mission” has decided to make this an issue. Of course we all know about Alito and Thomas and all the other “R” SCOTUS’s. Voters have tuned out because of all the nasty rhetoric and this is not the way to get them involved. When we have John Fetterman calling the shenanigans at a congressional hearing worse than The Jerry Springer Show, we have a problem.
I object to the “bothsides”commentary on the hearing.
The topic was censure of Merrick Garland for refusing to turn over an audio of Robert Hur’s interview of Biden. Biden has invoked executive privilege, as the committee already has a transcript. Rep. Taylor Greene used her time to talk about going to New York to support Trump at his trial. Rep. Crockett responded by suggesting she stay on topic. Taylor Greene then insulted Crockett. Chair James Comer ineffectually failed to hold Taylor Greene responsible for her remarks. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna then laid into Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who sought to maintain decorum.
Those aren’t shenanigans. The GOP daily debases decorum in our legislature. They do it to distract from all they do in service to Trump. Both sides aren’t the same.
MTG made a comment about fake eyelashes on AOC. The other woman insulted her hair color and being butch. AOC did nothing to control anyone and called MTJ out with that baby girl comment. Comer should have called the meeting at that point. Sounded like the Brits going at it in their big meetings.
LisaM,
You must admit that learning for the first time that a Justice of the Supreme Court flew the flag of the Insurrectuon/Big Lie is newsworthy. I don’t remember reading about it in 2020 or 2021.
It’s petty and looks desperate. Any person who has opened the papers or watched the news in the past 8-10 yrs knows who does what on the SC. It just makes me think that if the “D” side has to play this game, what do they have to hide?…..AND…..many of us don’t like the implied message. If the progressives keep it up their crap, it will be 4 more years of Trump and most of us didn’t like that the 1st time!
Lisa: Sure, all democrats just love to stir up volatile polemics. That makes Marjorie Taylor Green a true gift from the GOP. At least we can all agree on something.
Back to reality: Though I join you in your desire for a peaceful normativity in Congress and elsewhere, a pretense of that kind of peace won’t make it a reality; nor will blaming those whom the bully provokes for disturbing the “peace.” CBK
Also, the coup didn’t start and end on January 6, 2021. Look at what nitwit Rep. Matt Gaetz posted on Thursday: Standing back and standing by, Mr. President:
https://x.com/mattgaetz/status/1791101846972449026
Surely Mr. Alito could have taken it down instead of blaming his wife, a feeble excuse.
“My wife did it, not me. I didn’t know she did it until years later.”
Perhaps a sweep of the House and the Senate and the presidency might lead to impeachment for Thomas and Alito – not that I’m holding my breath. But SCOTUS has lost its legitimacy and so its rulings have no weight. Rather than apologize, Alito and Thomas demonstrate that, like Trump, they are answerable to no one.
Its rulings have no weight but they are the law of the land.
I’m afraid we may find that laws lacking legitimacy have no moral suasion. Then what?
Alito a partisan? Go on!
Who needs a flag to know what he thinks?
THE BIG LIE:
Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Trump, and the Republican inferiority in DC have taught us that what we learned about democracy and the Constitution and the law was a big lie.
Their end game is to control We the People.
In the Marines and maybe all the other branches of the U.S. military (at least back in the 1960s when I served) an upside down flag was a call for help, that they were under attack and had no other way to ask for support.
that was what I was taught. Upside down flag is a symbol of distress.
it is unfortunate, but the flag during that period became a symbol of right wing potential violence. Trump took a symbol of freedom and pushed it into a symbol for him. During the Trump years, people displayed it together with all sorts of other symbols to the end that it became increasingly degraded as a national symbol. We saw blue stripes across its middle. We saw it mixed with other flags.
I suppose flying it upside down to suggest distress might have actually been appropriate for a supporter of peaceful transfer of power. Somehow I don’t think that is what Alito and his wife were saying.
The NY Times report about the Alito household an American flag upside down upside-down makes clear that we know at least three things:
2. Alito is a coward for trying to brush this off AND for trying to pin the upside-down flag on his wife;
3. Both Alito and his wife are seditious traitors.