Justice Samuel Alito’s home flew upside down US flag symbolizing MAGA’s ‘Stop The Steal’ as Supreme Court weighed 2020 election case

An upside-down American flag symbolizing MAGA’s “Stop The Steal” campaign hung in the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, days after supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol.

The inverted flag has been used as a sign of support for former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

A photo shows the inverted flag flying outside the judge’s home on Jan. 17, 2021, days after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. according to a new report in The New York Times.

Dozens of rioters carried similar upside-down flags on January 6 and chanted slogans such as “Stop the Steal.”

The report raises concerns about Alito’s impartiality as the Supreme Court considers two key cases related to the attack, including charges against the rioters and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges.

Legal experts said the flag clearly violates ethics rules designed to prevent even the appearance of bias.

At the time the flag flew, the court was still considering whether to hear the cases during the 2020 election.

Ultimately, they were dismissed due to dissents from three conservative justices, including Alito, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush.

He wrote that the court’s consideration of the cases would have no impact on the 2020 election but would be “invaluable for future elections.”

Alito, in turn, acknowledged the flag’s presence at his home in Alexandria, Virginia, but said it was placed there by his wife.

“I was in no way involved in the raising of the flag,” Alito said in an emailed statement to the newspaper. “It was posted briefly by Ms. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of offensive and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

Martha-Ann Alito had argued with another family in the neighborhood over an anti-Trump sign on their lawn, and neighbors also interpreted the flag as a political statement, the Times reported. It is not clear how long the flag flew.

Legal codes of ethics focus on the need for judges to be independent, avoiding political statements or opinions on matters they could decide.

The Supreme Court has long been without its own judge code of ethics, but adopted one in November 2023, despite continued criticism over secret trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some judges. However, the code lacks an enforcement instrument.

Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia, told the newspaper that waving the flag upside down “is the equivalent of putting a ‘Stop the Steal’ sign in your yard, which is a problem when you make decisions that related to elections. fallen.’

Even if it was placed by his wife or someone else who lived in the house, “he shouldn’t have it in his yard as his message to the world,” she said.

The Supreme Court has warned its own employees against public statements that indicate partisan leanings, the newspaper reported. The court did not respond to questions about whether these rules apply to judges.

The U.S. Flag Code states that the U.S. flag may not be flown upside down “except as a signal of dire distress in cases of extreme danger to life or property.”

It has been used as a protest symbol on a range of issues by both the left and right in recent decades. It became a symbol of Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign as he spread false claims that the election he lost to President Joe Biden had been stolen.

It comes as another conservative judge, Clarence Thomas, has ignored calls to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election. about the support of his wife, Ginni Thomas for Trump and as an audience confidence in the Supreme Court is at its lowest point in at least 50 years.