US flag is sacred, White House says, amid flap involving Supreme Court's
Alito
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[May 18, 2024]
By Andrew Chung
(Reuters) -A report about a U.S. flag flying upside-down in January 2021
outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's home caused a furor in
Washington, with the White House saying on Friday President Joe Biden
believes the flag is sacred and a senior senator calling for Alito to
step aside from two key cases.
Alito told the New York Times that the flag had been placed by his wife,
Martha-Ann Alito, on a pole outside their house in the Washington suburb
of Alexandria, Virginia after a dispute with a neighbor over a sign on
the neighbor's lawn critical of Republican then-President Donald Trump.
The inverted U.S. flag became a symbol of protest by Trump supporters,
including those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as he
sought to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden with false claims of
widespread voting fraud and a "stolen" election.
Democrat Dick Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, called
on Alito to recuse from two cases currently pending before the Supreme
Court that involve the 2020 election and Capitol attack. Other
Democrats, including Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representatives Hank
Johnson and Adam Schiff, issued similar calls.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at a regular briefing
sidestepped a question about whether Biden believes Alito can rule
impartially on cases related to the Jan. 6 events.
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"I cannot speak to if he should recuse himself, how he should move
forward on the court," Jean-Pierre said of Alito. "That is for the court
to decide."
But Jean-Pierre added that she had spoken to the Democratic president
about the matter and that he feels "that the American flag is sacred and
we should be respecting that flag." Jean-Pierre also mentioned the
"brave men and women who have sacrificed, given their lives to protect
our nation."
Earlier in the day, Durbin said, "Flying an upside-down American flag -
a symbol of the so-called 'Stop the Steal' movement - clearly creates
the appearance of bias."
The first of the two cases Durbin mentioned is Trump's bid for immunity
from prosecution on federal criminal charges for trying to reverse his
2020 defeat.
The second one involves a challenge by a Pennsylvania man to a federal
criminal charge of obstruction that he faces for his involvement in the
Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. The case
has implications for Trump, who faces the same charge in the
election-related criminal case brought against him by Special Counsel
Jack Smith.
'REGAIN PUBLIC TRUST'
"The court is in an ethical crisis of its own making, and Justice Alito
and the rest of the court should be doing everything in their power to
regain public trust," Durbin said.
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![](../images/obits/news_q41.jpg)
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Jr is seen during
a group portrait session for the new full court at the Supreme Court
in Washington, U.S., November 30, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Young/ File
Photo
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The Times reported that the upside-down flag flew at Alito's house
on Jan. 17, 2021, not long after the Jan. 6 riot and days before
Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration. Word of the flag's presence filtered
back to the court, the newspaper reported.
Alito told the Times he had no involvement. "It was briefly placed
by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and
personally insulting language on yard signs," the Times quoted Alito
as saying in a statement.
Alito elaborated on Friday, telling Fox News host Shannon Bream that
his wife sought to address their neighbor's anti-Trump sign that
used an expletive and was close to a school bus stop. The neighbor
then put up a sign "personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her
for the Jan. 6th attacks," Bream wrote on social media.
Alito did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
David Rivkin Jr., an Alito supporter and appellate attorney whose
clients include litigants in a tax case currently pending before the
Supreme Court, called Durbin's push for Alito's recusal unfair and
motivated by a desire for partisan gain.
"Since Justice Alito has indicated that he had nothing to do with
the display of the flag, seeking his recusal is fundamentally
wrong," Rivkin said. "That Senator Durbin is doing so has nothing to
do with ethics and is part of a politically driven, obsessive
campaign against conservative justices only, with a lack of any
interest in the behavior of liberal justices."
Alicia Bannon, the director of the judiciary program at the New York
University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice, said the flag
display is more than "a clear ethics violation" as Alito has not
apologized for or disavowed the upside-down flag.
"A Supreme Court justice appears to have embraced election denialism.
That's a five-alarm fire," Bannon said.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Additional reporting by John
Kruzel and Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
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