Supreme Court Justice Alito fires back at Democrats demanding he step down from Trump cases and claims wife 'refused' to take down flags
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued a defiant letter Wednesday where he refused to remove himself from cases involving the election and said it was his wife who had 'refused' to take down an upside down American flag from their home.
'My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not,' Alito wrote in the three-page letter addressing the flag controversy.
It was the latest development in a saga that has fired up Washington and drew applause from former President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday congratulated Alito for his 'GUTS' in standing up to pressure.
Alito said he had 'nothing to do whatsoever' with the flying of an upside down American flag outside the suburban Virginia home he shares with his wife, Martha-Ann Alito.
'I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention,' he wrote. 'As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused,' he said.
He also cited her 'legal right to use the property as she sees fit.' He blamed the gesture as a response to an incident about which she was 'greatly distressed at the time.'
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said his wife Martha-Ann Alito was 'fond of flags' and said she refused entreaties for several days to take down an upside down American flag from outside their Virginia home
He said it had to do with a 'very nasty neighborhood dispute in which I had no involvement' after a house displayed a sign 'attacking her personally' and said a man trailed her down the street and 'berated her in my presence using foul language, including what I regard as the vilest epithet that can be addressed to a woman.'
That was a reference to a slur that a woman in the neighborhood says that she, not her husband, said to Alito's wife.
Alito in his letter to Democratic senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Richard Durbin said there was no reason for him to recuse himself from political matters before the court.
'I am therefore duty-bound to reject your recusal request,' he wrote.
Alito also addressed the decision to fly a Revolutionary War-era flag featuring a pine tree and the slogan 'An Appeal to Heaven' at his New Jersey vacation home last summer – something he also attributed to his wife.
He said she owns the vacation home in her own name. 'I recall that my wife did fly that flag for some period of time, but I do not remember how long it flew. And what is most relevant here, I had no involvement in the decision to fly that flag,' he wrote.
A photo from Google Maps' street view shows the pine tree 'Appeal to Heaven' flag flying outside of Alito's New Jersey vacation home in August 2023
The Revolutionary War flag was also flown at the January 6,2021 Capitol riot, which means, at least to AOC, that Alito should be investigated for having 'identified himself' with protestors
Then he revealed just how much his wife fancied flags.
'My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not,' he revealed. He called her 'solely responsible' for having flag poles put up, and mentioned patriotic flags, college flags, and flags supporting sports teams.
The flag, like the upside down American flag, was flown by people at the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Alito said he wasn't aware of any connection 'between the historic flag and the "Stop the Steal Movement."'
She didn't fly it 'to associate herself with that or any other group,' he wrote.
The letter came a day after the New York Times reported on the neighborhood clash, and published an image of the upside down flag flying at the Alito home days after January 6.
Emily Baden, a New York transplant during the pandemic, put up signs where she was living that said 'Trump Is a Fascist' and 'You Are Complicit' but claimed it was not directed at Bombgardner.
The flag flew outside the Alito home on January 17. Baden said the clash with Martha-Ann Alito came February 15, when she used the lewd expressions.
'I will fully cop to that,' she said.
Democrats have called on Alito to recuse himself from cases, including a critical decision on Trump's claim of immunity from prosecution that his lawyers raised while fighting the federal Washington, D.C. indictment for his election overturn effort.
Parks and Recreation staff at San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza have removed an 'Appeal to Heaven' flag that has been a part of a collection there since the 1960s.
The flag apparently flew with little notice for years before it was used by members of the Christian right and the Stop the Steal movement. It flew among a collection of flags including the historic Gadsden flag with the famous 'Don't Tread on Me' slogan.
