#SCOTUS Justice Samuel A. #Alito Jr. has offered multiple accounts of how politically charged flags [#insurrectionist flags] came to fly outside his homes in VA & NJ — the type of display that is generally off-limits for judges, who must remain #impartial & avoid even the appearance of #bias as they handle cases.
…#Alito told Fox News …the neighborhood dispute began when his wife went to speak w/their neighbor Emily Baden in Jan 2021. #MarthaAnnAlito was upset the woman was displaying an anti #Trump sign, w/an expletive, “within 50 feet of where children await the school bus,” as Bream put it on…[social media].
But Fairfax County schools were shuttered at the time because of the coronavirus pandemic & had been since March 2020.
The most pivotal question about the #UpsideDown American #flag has yet to be fully answered: #MarthaAnnAlito’s motivation for flying it.
…The Alitos have not explicitly addressed whether the upside-down flag had a connection to #Jan6 or “Stop the Steal,” & Justice #Alito’s comments about his wife’s motivation for flying it have shifted.
…The letters include a much more specific explanation of why #MarthaAnnAlito flew the “#AppealToHeaven” flag at the couple’s vacation home….
#Alito said he “assumed” his wife was flying it for #religious & patriotic reasons. He definitively said neither he or his wife knew the flag was associated w/the “Stop the Steal” & it was not flown in solidarity w/that movement.
It was unclear how the #House could seek to cut spending for states through the appropriations process, which funds the federal govt. But it has become a talking point for #FarRightlawmakers that was on display during a House #Judiciary Cmte hearing Tues.
Jesse #Barrett is a trial lawyer & managing partner at SouthBank Legal. He heads the firm’s Washington, DC, office, which opened after Justice Barrett joined the high court.
…the SouthBank Legal website says #JesseBarrett “focuses on #WhiteCollar#criminal defense, internal investigations, & complex commercial #litigation,” it notes,…that he has “represented a prominent #media company in a lawsuit alleging #defamation.”
Respect for the 12 jury members and 6 alternates who did their civic duty under the most difficult circumstances. So far, only ordinary Americans - in grand juries, trial juries, and the ballot box, have held Trump accountable.
“To me, the #flag issue is much simpler. The fact is that, regardless of its legality, displaying the flag in that way, at that time, shouldn’t have happened. To put it bluntly, any #judge w/reasonable #ethical instincts would have realized immediately that flying the flag then & in that way was improper. And dumb.”
“The same goes for the flying of an #AppealToHeaven flag at Justice #Alito’s vacation house along the NJ shore. Like the #UpsideDown flag, this #flag is viewed by a great many people as a banner of allegiance on #partisan issues that are or could be before #SCOTUS.
#Republican members of #Congress & state ofcls have displayed the #flag as well, among them #DougMastriano, a PA state senator & a leader of the “Stop the Steal” campaign. The highest-ranking elected ofcl known to show the flag is Rep #MikeJohnson, who hung it at his office last fall shortly after becoming #speaker of the #House.
#Trump has a huge posse today, including #KashPatel; #GerryKassar, a #conservative party leader in NY; #BernieKerik, fmr NYPD commissioner who was imprisoned for tax fraud & false statements; #AlanDershowitz, lawyer who defended Trump during his first impeachment, & #BorisEpshteyn, legal adviser who was #indicted in AZ for attempts to keep Trump in power after the 2020 election.
He recently testified before the #House#Judiciary Cmte, where he assailed Cohen’s credibility.
Costello also testified before the #GrandJury last year, in a last-ditch plea to the panel to not accept Cohen’s word. Which obviously didn’t work since the grand jury #indicted#Trump.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat: "To normalize extreme ideas, you get them circulating through institutions and the public sphere, aiming for prestigious platforms that offer maximum legitimacy. Enter the Supreme Court, which is making itself the tool of bad actors who want issues that should be settled in a democracy seen as up for discussion–including whether a head of state can order an assassination of a political rival and pay no consequence." #SCOTUS https://lucid.substack.com/p/information-warfare-and-the-supreme