Do take the time to read #Alito ‘s letter, in which he cloaks his own misapplicof the recusal standard in a self-righteous assertion of his wife’s First Amendment rights. He is correct that she has these. He is wrong to think that her exercise of them does not raise questions about his own impartiality. https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/ae3feb5a-13a4-4f0f-9046-b61a530c40fb.pdf#LawFedi 1/
At the times this wife flew these flags, Alito took no steps to disassociate himself from their significance. He did not have to make his wife take them down; he could have issued a public statement then that they did not represent his views, only his wife’s. Whether that would have been sufficient to convince a reasonable person of his impartiality in #Jan6 cases is still an open question, but at least the reasonable person would know Alito made an effort to distance himself. 2/
Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. announced Wed that he will not recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases at #SCOTUS after Democratic lawmakers questioned whether he could be impartial following reports that an upside-down #flag flew at his home in the weeks after the… [#insurrection].
In a letter to #Democrat ldrs in the #House & #Senate, #Alito said that flag & a 2nd, #religious-themed flag were raised by his wife, w/o his knowledge, & the incidents do not meet the conditions for #recusal outlined in #SCOTUS’s code of conduct.
Alito disclosed for the 1st time that he was not aware of the #UpsideDownFlag until it was called to his attention & that his wife resisted taking it down.
“As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused,” #Alito wrote in the letter to Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) & Dick Durbin (D-IL).
The #UpsideDownFlag … has become a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement that falsely claims the #2020election was stolen from #Trump.
Another flag carried by #Jan6 rioters, …embraced by #ChristianNationalists …, was flown outside Alito’s vacation home in NJ last summer. #Alito said in the letter that the 2nd flag was also raised by his
wife, #MarthaAnnAlito.
“My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not,” he wrote.
In two new letters to Congress, Samuel #Alito refuses to recuse himself from cases involving #Jan6 despite concerns about the two controversial flags being flown at his homes. #SCOTUS
"A Florida woman and former director for the Miami Young Republicans who allegedly spent months exchanging texts and photos with a member of the Proud Boys before joining him at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been formally indicted, court records show."
#Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection w/a #HushMoney payment made to a porn star to influence the 2016 election. The case could be in the jury’s hands as early as Wed.
Meanwhile, President #Biden's campaign is holding a news conference outside the courthouse in Manhattan, a guarantee of attention since the media has been stationed here for week.
The speakers have focused not on the #TrumpTrial, but largely on the insurrection by #Trump supporters on #Jan6, 2021, & the threats the Biden campaign argues Trump poses to #democracy & the nation's future.
"Alito’s misconduct also brings Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who heads an entire branch of government, to an inflection point. If he does nothing, Roberts is complicit in the destruction of the court’s reputation. Such spinelessness might even snatch from Roger B. Taney, the author of the majority opinion in Dred Scott, the title of “worst chief justice ever.”" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/26/alito-durbin-supreme-court/
I was in law school when Samuel Alito was nominated to SCOTUS. One of my law professors knew him personally. Outside of class, he tried to reassure me that Alito was a "good" conservative, and not one of those crazy right-wing ideologues.
“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.
tldr: He was working on the Jan 6 investigation from the day he got there but was roadblocked by trump lackeys in the DOJ and FBI and had to overcome all of it to get things moving.
“… honestly, just how many insurrectionist flags must be flown at the Alitos’ homes before we conclude the obvious? Justice Alito is an insurrectionist sympathizer, and he actually wants the world to know it.
Let’s be clear about what this means. Alito is giving our entire democracy the finger. He has expressed public allyship with the enemies of our Constitution instead of upholding his oath of office. And he’s also a coward and a liar, unwilling to speak his traitorous words aloud, yet ready to throw his wife under the bus the moment he’s questioned about these displays.”
I’ve lived long enough to have lived through three unforgettable horrific days in our country’s history — President Kennedy’s Assassination (Nov 22 1963), September 11 and January 6. All three were traumatic for our society— we can all remember exactly where we were when we heard of each tragedy.
January 6 was the most horrific because it signaled the beginning of the public movement to end our democracy.
Now we see writ clearly that one of the members of our highest court harbors sympathy with this detestable cause.