Samuel Alito, a judge of the US Supreme Court, has told lawmakers that he will not withdraw from cases concerning Donald Trump and the January 6 riot at the Capitol after it was reported that far-right flags were flown over his homes in Virginia and New Jersey.
The justice responded to demands from Democrats for him to step aside through two correspondences which stated that his wife Martha-Ann Alito flew those flags.
“My wife is an independently minded private citizen,” he said. “She makes her own decisions, and I respect her right to do so.”
By June end, the court will have to rule on whether or not Trump is immune from charges against him claiming that he committed crimes by attempting to subvert results of the year’s election. In another case linked with prosecution of Trump, the judges also approved review of appeal by a person accused being part of Capitol attack.
According to The New York Times, there was an upside down American flag displayed at Alito’s Virginia house just before President Joe Biden’s inauguration; more recently, a flag bearing “Appeal To Heaven” flew atop Alito’s beach residence in New Jersey – similar flags were carried by rioters who broke into the Capitol on January 6th.
“I like flying no flags at all. But my wife loves flying any kind of flag,” wrote Alito. This letter was sent specifically to Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA). “She was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years.”
Alito noted that his spouse placed an upside-down banner during a ‘very nasty neighborhood dispute’ when one house had put up a sign containing personal insults targeting Martha-Ann Alito whereas one man called her publicly very rude names/called her dirty names hence she fixed it above their house for several days even after I had asked her to bring it down immediately upon seeing it.
In connection with the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, he wrote that this was what his wife put up and took it as expressing a patriotic or religious meaning; both Alitos are not aware of its association with the “Stop the Steal Movement.”
Alito’s answer concerned Hank Johnson, who is the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts. This underscored a need for Congress to establish an enforceable code of conduct for the Supreme Court because while there is one adopted by justices in November, it lacks any enforcement tool.
“Justice Alito’s ‘the dog ate my homework, and I didn’t even know I had homework’ defense would be laughable if it were not so serious,” Johnson said in an email statement.
The oldest sitting leader at 74 is one of four seats held by conservatives on the top U.S. Supreme court which includes other Justices such as Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. Two years ago, he authored the opinion that reversed Roe v. Wade (1973), a decision regarded as landmark thus nullifying constitutional protection underpinning access to abortion across America.
