Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday rejected requests from Democratic lawmakers to recuse himself from a key case related to former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, following reports that he flags associated with Trump supporters were displayed at his residence.
In two letters to lawmakers, Alito said he had “nothing to do” with flying an upside-down American flag at his Virginia home days before President Joe Biden was inaugurated.
Alito also said he had “no involvement” in flying a flag with the “Calling to Heaven” logo in the backyard of his vacation home in the summer of 2023.
Instead, he said in the letter, his wife was “solely responsible” for erecting the flagpole and flying “a variety of flags over the years.”
“My wife likes to fly the flag. I don’t,” Alito wrote.
The answer means conservative judges remain involved as the court considers Trump’s claims that he is immune from charges in a federal election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump has argued that even after leaving office, he enjoys broad presidential immunity and cannot be prosecuted for his official actions as president.
A Supreme Court decision on the issue is still pending, which could further delay or effectively end Smith’s case against the former president. The court is expected to issue an opinion Thursday morning, but may not rule on Trump’s case until later.
The New York Times first reported in early May upside down american flag A sign flew by a Trump supporter who falsely claimed Biden’s victory in the 2020 election was rigged over a judge and his wife Martha Ann in Alexandria, Virginia, on January 17, 2021. ‧Alito’s home.
Soon after, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urged Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and the Capitol riots, including Trump’s immunity case.
“Flying the American flag upside down – a symbol of the so-called ‘Stop the Steal’ movement – clearly creates bias,” Durbin wrote.
Senators renewed their call last week Alito avoidsafter the Times reported appeal to heaven In July and September 2023, the flag flew at Alito’s summer home in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
Both flags were carried by rioters during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Alito wrote in Wednesday’s letter that his wife’s reason for flying the American flag upside down was “irrelevant to the present purpose.”
But he noted that she was “very distressed at the time, in large part due to a very serious neighborhood dispute in which I was not involved.”
Alito said a male resident of a house on her street had signs that “physically attacked her” and “stalked” her on the street and berated her with “vulgar language, including what I thought was OK The most vicious epithets that insulted her.” It was written to a woman. “
Alito wrote that Martha-Ann Alito “is a private citizen” who “makes her own decisions,” adding that as a result of his actions, she had to endure “numerous, loud, and violent incidents that occurred on our doorstep.” , obscenity and personal insults”. High Court Services.
Those protests “continue to this day and now threaten to escalate,” he wrote.
Regarding the “Prayer to Heaven Flag,” Alito said he remembered his wife flying it “for a while,” and that when it was raised, he was unfamiliar with it.
“She may have mentioned that this goes back to the American Revolution, and I assume she flew the plane to express a patriotic and religious message,” he wrote.
“I had no idea there was any connection between the historic flag and the Stop the Steal movement, and neither did my wife,” Alito wrote.
But he insisted that “she was not flying the flag to associate herself with that group or any other group, and the use of an old historic flag by a new group does not necessarily strip the flag of all other meanings.”
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