Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is refusing to recuse himself from Jan. 6 related cases before the court following reports that flags tied to the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement was on display at his home after the 2020 presidential election.
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported on two instances where two flags linked to the effort to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election were being flown at Alito’s properties.
The first flag, an inverted American flag was flown at Alito’s home in Virginia on Jan. 17,2021, days after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. Alito said he had nothing to do with the flag and blamed his wife. The second flag was an ‘Appeal to Heaven‘ flag which according to The Times is a symbol for the religious arm of the “Stop the Steal” campaign. The flag was seen flying outside Alito’s New Jersey beach home in July and September 2023.
In two letters —one to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, and the other to House Democrats— Alito rebuffed calls to recuse himself from Jan. 6 related before the court.
“The two incidents you cite do not meet the conditions for recusal,” Alito wrote in the letter. “As I have stated publicly, I had nothing whatsoever to do with the flying of that flag. I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention.”
“As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused,” Alito wrote.
The Supreme Court justice reiterated that his wife was “greatly distressed at the time due, in large part, to a very nasty neighborhood dispute in which I had no involvement.”
But, a report from The Times on Tuesday shows that the confrontation between Mrs. Alito and their neighbor took place after the flag was displayed at the Alitos home.
As for the ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag, Alito said he had no idea what the flag means and blamed his wife for displaying that one as well.
“I had no involvement in the decision to fly that flag,” Alito wrote. “I was not aware of any connection between that historic flag and the ‘Stop the Steal Movement,’ and neither was my wife. She did not fly it to associate herself with that or any other group, and the use of an old historic flag by a new group does not necessarily drain that flag of all other meanings.”
Democrats have been arguing that the flags indicate that Alito is not impartial and called on him to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and Jan. 6. Such cases include whether Trump’s has absolute immunity from prosecution in special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion case and a Jan. 6 case that challenges an obstruction law used to prosecute hundreds of rioters, including members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
“My wife is a private citizen, and she possesses the same First Amendment rights as every other American,” Alito wrote in his letter. “She makes her own decisions, and I have always respected her right to do so.”
“A reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that this event does not meet the applicable standard for recusal,” he added. “I am therefore duty-bound to reject your recusal request.”
