After the 2020 presidential #election, as some #Trump supporters falsely claimed that President #Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars & online: an upside-down #AmericanFlag.
One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of #SupremeCourt Justice Samuel A #Alito Jr, in Alexandria, VA, acc/to photographs & interviews w/neighbors.
The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan 17, 2021, images showed. #Trump’s supporters, incl’g some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. President #Biden’s inauguration was 3 days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some…were recently obtained by The NYT. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.
While the flag was up, the court was still contending w/whether to hear a #2020election case, w/Justice #Alito on the losing end of that decision. In coming wks, the justices will rule on 2 climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on #Jan6, incl’g whether #Trump has #immunity for his actions. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election & his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.
…“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag, “Justice #Alito emailed NYT. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable & personally insulting language on yard signs.”
…Interviews show Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, had been in a dispute w/another family on the block over an anti-Trump sign on their lawn, given the timing & starkness of the symbol, neighbors interpreted the inverted flag as a #political stmnt by the couple.
Patriarchal power is fueled by internalized perceived superiority, and is bolstered and protected by institutional structures. Patriarchy not only throws people under the bus, but also blames those same folks for getting run over. #Alito#ClarenceThomas#SCOTUS
People shouldn't be calling for Alito's or Thomas' recusal(s). We should be calling - insisting - that they resign.
They are the epitome of unethical, biased and of poor moral character. They are both politically compromised.
The fact that "Chief" Justice Roberts is doing nothing is barely more reassuring. The opinions coming from the court are garbage and the "rule of law" has been tossed. Why should anyone adhere to any decision coming from them?
The legitimacy and composition of the US Supreme Court can be challenged by bills submitted and passed by Congress. It might not happen right away, but it is time to insist on such actions. Here's one:
The United States is the only major constitutional democracy on Earth that allows lifetime tenure for judges on its highest court.
A bill in Congress, the Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization (TERM) Act, would institute term limits of 18 years for Supreme Court justices.
Calls are growing for #Alito to recuse himself from all #January6th cases, and rightly so. He won't, of course, because he's arrogant and entirely unencumbered by ethics. If Democrats manage to win both houses of Congress + the White House, they MUST reform #SCOTUS.
70 yrs after #SCOTUS delivered its landmark decision outlawing school segregation, #BrownVBoardOfEducation ranks as perhaps the court’s most venerated decision….
Most everything else related to the decision…is complex.
Nearly 7/10 Americans say more should be done to integrate schools…a figure that has steadily climbed from 30% in 1973….But a deeper look into the views of both Black & White people shows skepticism about the success of #Brown….
In its unanimous decision in #Brown, #SCOTUS ruled segregated schools were #unconstitutional & “inherently unequal,” combining 5 cases in which #Black students & their schools had far fewer resources than their #White peers — longer commutes, lower-quality classes, overcrowding, fewer opportunities & less money. Yet 1/3 Black Americans now say integration has failed to improve the #education of Black students….
Because of #Brown, #school ofcls may no longer deliberately separate students by #race —but under more recent #SCOTUS orders, they aren’t allowed to deliberately mix them by race either. #Integration advocates today have stopped looking to the #federal courts for help & are pursuing #state lawsuits instead.…some #Black leaders have concluded that the answer is not integration…but more #money & #opportunity for high #poverty#schools….
"The mere impression of political opinion can be a problem, the ethics experts said. 'It might be his spouse or someone else living in his home, but he shouldn’t have it in his yard as his message to the world,' said Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia."
"This is 'the equivalent of putting a "Stop the Steal" sign in your yard, which is a problem if you’re deciding election-related cases,' she said."
On the one hand, the Supreme Court has not been favorable, overall, to Trump's reelection. In 2020, they threw out a case brought by Republicans to have four Democratic states ejected from the election, for example.
But on the other hand, now with two justices' wives taking public actions to support Trump's reelection, it's really hard to take the idea of impartiality seriously. If you're the spouse of a justice, and if you took SCOTUS's work seriously, you'd sit it out. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html
The spouse of one Supreme Court justice was actively conspiring with Mark Meadows to overturn the results of the 2020 election, while another Supreme Court justice was flying the American flag upside down to show his solidarity with the Big Lie.
Now they're sitting on the DC Felony Trial to buy Trump and his acolytes more time to steal the next election.
America is at a crossroads.
We either turn a blind eye to #scotus reign of corruption, or we take this country back at the ballot box and restore rule of law.