After The New York Times reported that the American flag outside Justice Samuel Alito’s home was flown upside down in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham criticized the conservative judge for failing to “think it through.”
“Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood but no, it’s not good judgment to do that,” Graham told HuffPost on Monday. “I don’t know what role ― he said his wife was insulted and got mad ― I assume that be true, but he’s still a Supreme Court justice. And, you know, people have to realize that moments like that, to think it through.”
In a photo obtained by the Times, the upside down flag was seen at Alito’s Virginia home less than two weeks after the rioters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election as lawmakers prepared to certify Biden’s electoral victory. Neighbors told the publication that the flag remained that way for several days before being taken down.
According to the U.S. flag code, the star-spangled banner should “never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.” When the Times reached out to Alito about the flag, he blamed his wife and said that he had “no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag.”
In 2020, following the Supreme Court’s rejection of a Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the results of the presidential election in four states Biden won — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — Alito, along with Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented. (Thomas has faced his own controversy following bombshell reports last year that conservative megadonor Harlan Crow funded the justice’s lavish lifestyle for decades.)
Following the Times report, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called on Alito to recuse himself from all cases concerning the 2020 election. “Flying an upside-down American flag — a symbol of the so-called ‘Stop the Steal’ movement — clearly creates the appearance of bias,” Durbin said in a statement. “Justice Alito should recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection.”
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