Senate Democrats seek meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts to discuss issue and seek Alito’s recusal on January 6 cases

The wife of US supreme court justice Samuel Alito reportedly justified the display of an upside-down American flag at the couple’s home by saying it was “an international signal of distress”, as senior Democrats have requested a meeting with the chief justice over the growing scandal.

Martha-Ann Alito made the comments to a Washington Post reporter, the outlet reported on Saturday, when the journalist visited the couple’s Virginia home in January 2021, not long after the attack on the US Capitol by extremist supporters of Donald Trump.

She reportedly told the Washington Post at the time that the flag had been run up their flagpole in that way in response to a neighborhood dispute.

Flying the Stars and Stripes flag upside down is acceptable as a rare distress signal, according to the official US flag code. But these days it is more often associated with activists making an extremist sign of protest, and at the time of the January 6 insurrection it had been adopted by some on the far right amid efforts, ultimately unsuccessful, to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Except as Alito said himself and she’s repeating here it was in response to a political sign. Therefore the flag is by definition political statement and not a sign of distress. They’ve backed themselves into a corner. They’re claiming they saw Democrat sign so they wanted to show their sign. They chose this one, a traitors flag. Believe people when they show you who they are.

    • Fisk400
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      6 months ago

      Does that matter? Nobody can fire him or regulate his behaviour in any way. What does public opinion matter when you are a divine prophet of the law.

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 months ago

        There’s one way to hold them accountable, and they’re pretty fucking aware of it:

        https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-seeks-security-funding-protect-justices-homes-2024-03-04/

        You don’t decide to ramp up security because people are happy with you. You do it when you know you’re doing something incredibly unpopular and so you want protection from the target you put on your own back with your incredibly unpopular decision.

        They know exactly what they’re doing.

        Edit: To be clear this is in no way an endorsement or suggestion regarding “holding them accountable.” “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”

        • Lemming6969@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          That quote is trash. There are no limits when fighting true evil. At worst it’s zero sum and every other outcome is preferable.