Alito flew an upside-down American flag. What if a liberal Supreme Court justice did that?

Rex Huppke, El Paso Times
·4 min read
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If there’s one thing we know for certain it’s that conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s wife loves flags.

Absolutely adores the things, apparently. She’s the one he pointed the finger at after The New York Times reported on an upside-down American flag — a sign of distress co-opted by Jan. 6 insurrectionists — hanging outside the justice’s home following the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

Alito said his wife also hung an “Appeal to Heaven” flag — another symbol co-opted by Jan. 6 rioters and Christian nationalists — outside their New Jersey vacation home.

'My wife is fond of flying flags' is Alito's excuse for a pro-insurrection symbol

After Democratic lawmakers called on Alito to recuse himself from cases involving the Jan. 6 insurrection, he wrote: “My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not. My wife was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years.”

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, view the casket of the Rev. Billy Graham in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in 2018. Two flags connected to the “Stop the Steal” movement were seen flying at homes owned by the Alitos, according to reports in The New York Times. After Democratic lawmakers called on the justice to recuse himself from cases involving the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, he wrote: “My wife was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years.”

Cool! Aside from hoping Martha-Ann Alito is also fond of the bottom of the bus her husband threw her under, I wonder if conservative supporters of Alito’s flag-losophy would be equally just fine with other Supreme Court justices hoisting flags of their own?

Would it also be OK for a liberal justice to fly a Black Lives Matter flag?

Say, for example, a Fox News reporter noticed a Black Lives Matter flag flying outside liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s home.

I assume folks at that network as well as social-media-thirsty Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sen. J.D. Vance and convicted felon/GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump would be just fine with that, right?

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They’d utter nary a peep. After all, we must respect our right to bear flags.

And if anyone on the right did take issue with it and Jackson explained her husband is a big fan of flags and he’s the one who put it up, that would make everything OK, scandal-wise, right?

How about a Puerto Rican flag symbolizing resistance?

Suppose liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose parents were from Puerto Rico, had a black Puerto Rican flag — a symbol of resistance and grief — flying outside her vacation home. That’d be all good, right?

And maybe someone reported on it and she explained that a family member staying with her had put it up and, like Alito with his wife, she just couldn’t get the relative to take it down.

I’m sure Fox News would be cool as a cucumber about a story like that.

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An upside-down US flag in a liberal justice's yard? The right would be up in arms.

Let’s use a hypothetical that’s more direct: It’s 2016 and Trump was just elected president. A neighbor shows a New York Times reporter a photo of an upside-down American flag flying outside the home of liberal Justice Elena Kagan. Radical liberal groups across America had recently adopted the upside-down American flag to express their violent opposition to the new president.

Would Republicans let that one go without batting an eye? Would the right-wing media ecosystem calmly roll its eyes and move on?

No, everyone on the right would be apoplectic. Fox News headquarters would spontaneously combust from the ensuing rage.

But with Alito and his insurrection-curious wife and her unflagging flag enthusiasm, it’s no biggie.

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Alito's flags matter. They represent a dark undercurrent in our politics.

After the flag stories broke, Democratic senators asked Chief Justice John Roberts to meet with them to discuss the scandal.

Roberts said no. Nothing to see here.

But there’s definitely something to see here, folks. And if a liberal justice were raising ideological flags of any sort, Republicans would surely see the problem clear as day.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alito's flag should be bigger scandal. What if a liberal did it?