Federalist Society Honcho Also Flying Insurrectionist Fave Flag

Justice Sam Alito explained that it was his wife (wink wink) who flew the U.S. flag outside his home upside down in a nod to the election denialists. The excuse never made much sense — why would the former Army officer who served in the Signal Corps farm out flag duty at the house — but it crumbled like constitutional protections for voting rights once the world noticed that Alito flew an Appeal to Heaven flag at his vacation home.

While we wait to see which token of insurrectionist symbology Alito will display next, ProPublica notes that Federalist Society chief Leonard Leo — fresh off costing his local police over $60,000 for having them wrongfully arrest a protester — is also an Appeal to Heaven fan!

It's not just Justice Alito.

Here's the "Appeal to Heaven" flag flying outside of conservative powerbroker Leonard Leo's home in Maine.

Photo taken by a nearby resident who shared it with @ProPublica and gave us permission to publish it. 1/x pic.twitter.com/dmwRAvNkMM

— Andy Kroll (@AndyKroll) May 23, 2024

After ProPublica put up that picture, Leo issued a statement:

Mr. Leonard Leo:

Why does he begin his statement by addressing it to himself? Like… that’s weird, right?

“Here is why I fly the ‘An Appeal to Heaven’ flag.

1. It is the flag of the first navy of the US, which was privately funded by General George Washington. For me, flying that flag symbolizes civic duty and philanthropy towards one’s country.

This is the stock response of folks defending this flag and it is quite disingenuous. There’s a reason no one grew up seeing Appeal to Heaven flags all over the place. The flag fell into deep obscurity until roughly the last decade, when Christian nationalists seized upon it as a token of their movement. If the flag meant “civic duty and philanthropy” to anyone, it wouldn’t have existed exclusively in museums before now.

2. As someone who lives on the water, I like naval flags, and as a history buff, I occasionally fly those and about a half dozen other early American flags.

The OCR tool I used initially translated “I like naval flags” to “I like nova Maga” proving that AI is getting smarter at sentiment analysis.

Leonard Leo is almost 60. When did this “naval history buff” start hoisting this long-forgotten ensign? In a vacuum, there really isn’t anything wrong with flying random Revolutionary era flags. But this isn’t a vacuum and all these guys who didn’t care a whit about these flags 10-20 years ago have magically discovered their inner history buff as soon as the flags became a cryptofascist shibboleth.

3. As a resident of Maine, the Pine-Tree-State, I like pine trees.

Then fly the original flag of Maine.

Just because a bunch of insurrectionists flew a flag doesn’t mean they get to own it. They also flew the American flag and I’m still flying that one.

Yeah, the American flag isn’t the one dug from the fog of obscurity and enthusiastically adopted exclusively by the far-right.

Leo’s house, Alito’s vacation home, Speaker and January 6 apologist Mike Johnson’s office… insurrectionists may not “own” this flag, but it’s mighty curious how the Venn diagram places the folks with Appeal to Heaven flags fits snuggly within the circle of Trump voters like it’s San Marino or something.

Earlier: Samuel Alito Throws Wife Under The Bus Over ‘Stop The Steal’ Flag
The Sam Alito Flag Excuses Keep Getting Dumber
Samuel Alito Displays Second Controversial Flag, Secure In The Knowledge Nothing Will Be Done About It
Helpful Field Guide For Identifying The Next Flag At Sam Alito’s House
Man Arrested For Protesting Outside Federalist Society Chief’s House Earns $62.5K Settlement From The Cops

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.