White House jabs conservative Justice Alito’s upside down American flag stunt, says Biden always treats ‘sacred’ flag with respect

The White House jabbed Friday at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito flying an upside-down American flag outside his home, saying President Joe Biden treats the flag with respect.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president believes “the American flag is sacred and we should respect that flag.”

The upside-down flag, symbolizing MAGA’s “Stop The Steal” campaign, flew outside Alito’s home in 2021 as the Supreme Court weighed a 2020 election case. It has been used as a sign of support for former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

But Jean-Pierre declined to comment on whether or not Alito should recuse himself from ongoing election-related cases, even after some legal experts said it calls into question Alito’s impartiality.

“I don’t want to get into the specific actions that judges at that Supreme Court are taking, whether they should repent or not,” she said at her daily news conference. ‘That is something for the judge in a broader sense, they have to make that decision. That is something we are not going to step into.’

A photo shows the inverted flag flying outside the judge’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, on January 17, 2021, days after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 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.

Alito blamed his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, for flying the flag.

He told Fox News that a neighbor posted a sign that said “F*** Trump” at a school bus stop and then a sign attacking his wife. During a walk, the judge said, the Alitos got into an argument with the neighbor, who at one point used the term “c**t.” His wife then flew the inverted flag.

Alito told Fox News that he had no role in the flag decision and that the flag only flew outside their property for a “short time.”

An upside-down American flag, a symbol linked to former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud, was displayed outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021.

“I don’t want to get into the specific actions that judges on that Supreme Court are taking, whether they should repent or not,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her daily news conference.

Legal experts said the flag outside Alito’s home clearly violates ethics rules designed to prevent even the appearance of bias.

Democrat Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “The raising of an upside-down American flag — a symbol of the so-called ‘Stop the Steal’ movement — clearly creates the appearance of bias.”

Durbin said Alito should recuse himself from two cases currently pending before the Supreme Court involving the 2020 election.

The first is Trump’s request for immunity from prosecution on federal criminal charges for attempting to overturn his 2020 defeat.

The second case involves a Pennsylvania man’s challenge to a federal criminal obstruction charge 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 charges in the election-related criminal case brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith.

“The court is in the midst of an ethical crisis of its own making, and Judge Alito and the rest of the court must do everything in their power to regain the public’s trust,” Durbin said.

As the flag flew outside Alito’s home, the court was still considering whether to take up the cases related to the 2020 election.

It ultimately rejected them due to dissents from three conservative justices, including Alito, who was appointed to the court 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.”

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

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

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 New York Times that waving the flag upside down is “the equivalent of putting a ‘Stop the Steal’ sign in your yard, which is a problem if you’re talking about elections decided. -related cases.’

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.

The controversy surrounding Alito 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.