‘This stuff’s not normal’: Democrats slam Alito over upside-down American flag and renew calls for ethics reform

Justice Samuel Alito drew sharp condemnation Friday following revelations that an upside-down American flag was flown outside his home after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, a development that renewed calls on the left for Congress to impose ethics standards on the Supreme Court.

Justice Samuel Alito drew sharp condemnation Friday following revelations that an upside-down American flag was flown outside his home after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, a development that renewed calls on the left for Congress to impose ethics standards on the Supreme Court. The New York Times published on Thursday a photograph of the flag that it said was seen at the justice’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, on January 17, 2021, days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Alito told the Times he had “no involvement” in the flag’s hanging and said it was “briefly placed” there by his wife. The explanation didn’t satisfy critics, who noted the Supreme Court is hearing several cases this year involving the aftermath of the 2020 election. The upside-down flag became a symbol for former President Donald Trump’s supporters who falsely claimed widespread fraud in the election. “This stuff’s not normal,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, told CNN on Friday. “I’m just stunned that we would ever have had to have a Supreme Court justice explain why his wife was flying a flag upside down in response to an … insurrection.” Last fall, in response to a series of revelations about travel accepted by Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court adopted a code of conduct for the first time. That code guides the justices to “refrain from political activity,” and several judicial ethics experts speculated the incident with Alito was serious enough to violate those provisions. “Displaying a political symbol like this, with a clear message about the 2020 election given the timing, in the front yard of one’s home falls under this code provision, and Justice Alito should disqualify himself from cases related to the 2020 election challenges,” said Renee Knake Jefferson, a law professor at the University of Houston Law Center.