Supreme Court docket Justice Alito rejects calls to step apart over flag controversies

Supreme Court docket Justice Samuel Alito mentioned he wouldn’t recuse himself from upcoming circumstances involving January 6 rioters and Donald Trump amid controversy over his political ideology.

In a letter to greater than 30 congressional members, Justice Alito mentioned he is not going to recuse himself from taking part within the circumstances Trump v US which is able to decide if Donald Trump has prison immunity and Fischer v US which is able to resolve if January 6 rioters have been appropriately charged with a particular crime.

His response comes after a New York Occasions report revealed Justice Alito and his spouse flew an upside-down American flag at their Virginia house after the 2020 presidential election – a logo utilized by election deniers. One other Washington Put up article revealed the Alitos flew “An Enchantment to Heaven” flag at their trip house –a logo carried on January 6.

Justice Alito blamed his spouse, Martha-Ann Alito, for the incident and doubled down on that in his letter.

“My spouse is keen on flying flags. I’m not,” Justice Alito wrote. “She was solely accountable for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our trip house and has flown all kinds of flags through the years.”

Citing the non-binding Supreme Court docket code of ethics, Justice Alito argued he was not required to disqualify himself as a result of “this occasion doesn’t meet the relevant customary for recusal.”

Justice Alito assured these he had “nothing to do in any way” with the flags, was unaware the upside-down American flag was being flown and requested his spouse to take it down however she “refused.”

“My spouse is a non-public citizen, and she or he possesses the identical First Modification rights as each different American. She makes her personal selections, and I’ve at all times revered her proper to take action,” he wrote.

Justice Alito claimed that his spouse flew the flag whereas “significantly distressed” a few “nasty neighborhood dispute”. He mentioned a person residing down the road displayed an indication that straight “attacked” her and berated her in entrance of him.

“She has made many sacrifices to accommodate my service on the Supreme Court docket, together with the insult of getting to endure quite a few, loud, obscene, and personally insulting protests in entrance of our house that proceed to at the present time and now threaten to escalate,” Justice Alito wrote.

He defined that the “An Enchantment to Heaven” flag was simply one of many “huge number of flags” his spouse has flown through the years. These embrace: a flag thanking veterans, faculty flags, flags supporting sports activities groups, state and native flags, flags of countries, flags of locations they visited, seasonal flags and spiritual flags.

Justice Alito once more insisted he didn’t know what the “An Enchantment to Heaven” flag meant or that it had a connection to the “Cease the Steal” motion.

For these causes, Justice Alito believes he doesn’t must recuse himself from both case.

Democrats within the Senate and Home known as for Justice Alito to resign. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse despatched the chief justice a letter on Friday asking him to push Justice Alito to recuse himself from circumstances.

They argued that Justice Alito “actively engaged in political exercise, did not keep away from the looks of impropriety, and did not act in a fashion that promotes public confidence within the impartiality of the judiciary.”