#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.
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].
From Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNews
Alert: Justice Sam Alito will not recuse himself from cases involving Jan 6 and Trump.
He responds by letter to inquiry from Senate Democrats saying (in part): “I had nothing whatsoever to do with the flying of that flag. I was not even aware of the upside-
down flag until it was called to my attention. As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused.” #Alito will not #Recuse
“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.
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.
@lindamarie not surprising at all - just as #GinniThomas has participated openly and actively in #insurrection activities #Alito and his wife have done the same. #Trump#GOP created and executed the roadmap. None of the justices will #recuse and there is no process in place to remove them. #Election2024 is critical. Everyone Please #Vote.