Courts

Samuel Alito Throws Wife Under The Bus Over 'Stop The Steal' Flag

Alito is practically daring someone -- ANYONE -- to rein him in.

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In a bombshell revelation — at least for those who still maintain some respect for the American government — New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor revealed that, after the January 6th insurrection, the house of Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito displayed a prominent “stop the steal” symbol. Kantor spoke with Alito’s neighbors and they shared images from January 17, 2021 and an upside down American flag — a symbol of the far right to denote support for the “stop the steal” movement — was in front of the justice’s home.

I literally never want to hear about flag burning ever again.

Of course, as a Supreme Court justice, this move is wildly inappropriate. The federal judicial ethical code says jurists should avoid political statements or expressing opinions on matters that may come before them on the bench. And wouldn’t you know it? Cases related to this exact issue came before the Court — WHILE THE UPSIDE DOWN FLAG WAS FLYING.

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.

But Alito — and his very wrong view of Supreme Court ethics — fancies himself above such minor trivialities as an ethical code. And if you thought for a second Alito would recuse himself to avoid the appearance of impropriety? Hahahahahahahaha.

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The fact that he believes the worst impulses of the far right isn’t surprising at all, at least not if you’ve paid attention to his jurisprudence. But that he has such contempt for the delicate balance of government to be so bold and public about his opinions is new.

Though Alito claims he wasn’t involved in hanging the upside down flag at his home — he places the blame squarely on his wife’s shoulders.

“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.”

Just when we were out here thinking Ginni Thomas was the worst SCOTUS spouse, Sam Alito says, “Here honey, hold my beer.”

But seriously, an upside down flag is a weird response to a neighborhood dispute, if you aren’t trying to communicate exactly what we think it was trying to communicate. In the early days of 2021, the symbolism of an upside down flag was unmistakable.

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During Mr. Trump’s quest to win, and then subvert, the 2020 election, the gesture took off as never before, becoming “really established as a symbol of the ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign,” according to Alex Newhouse, a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder.

A flood of social media posts exhorted Trump supporters to flip over their flags or purchase new ones to display upside down.

“If Jan. 6 rolls around and Biden is confirmed by the Electoral College our nation is in distress!!” a poster wrote on Patriots.win, a forum for Trump supporters, garnering over a thousand “up” votes. “If you cannot go to the DC rally then you must do your duty and show your support for our president by flying the flag upside down!!!!”

Local newspapers from Lexington, Ky., to Sun City, Ariz., to North Jersey wrote about the flags cropping up nearby. A few days before the inauguration, a Senate candidate in Minnesota flew an upside-down flag on his campaign vehicle.

Hanging an inverted flag outside a home was “an explicit signifier that you are part of this community that believes America has been taken and needs to be taken back,” Mr. Newhouse said.

Kantor reports the 2020 election brought tension to the Alexandria neighborhood from folks on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Given that context and re-reading Alito’s toss of his wife under the bus, it only makes sense that the upside down flag was put up for the explicit purpose of expressing support for Donald Trump after he had already lost the election and days before Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.

While we’re on the subject of Alito’s piss poor excuse, how gross is it to see the tire tracks on his wife’s back? Martha-Ann Alito has been married to a federal judge for 30+ years, she’s almost certainly aware of the inadvisability of displaying political statements in front of their home. So the notion that Samuel Alito had no idea what his wife was doing or didn’t put up the flag himself stretches credulity. Especially when the more likely explanation — that Sam Alito simply thinks that no one will be able to punish him for this breach of ethical behavior — is sitting right there.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.

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