Justice tells Congress controversy over two extremist flags flown at his houses does not merit recusal from cases

Justice Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from supreme court cases involving the former president Donald Trump and January 6 defendants because of the controversy over flags that flew over his homes.

In letters to members of Congress on Wednesday, Alito says his wife was responsible for flying an upside-down US flag over his home in 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at his New Jersey beach house last year.

Neither incident merits his recusal, he wrote.

“I am therefore duty-bound to reject your recusal request,” he wrote.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldM
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    6 months ago

    “My fellow Americans, I humbly stand before you as a flawed man. I am not perfect, and my family is not perfect. Yet I ask you, is it a crime to love your country so much that you incite one little insurrection?”

  • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    6 months ago

    He is seated on the highest court in the US and only a majority of legislators can recuse him. Off course he isn’t. Only if he thinks that the legislators can get the votes he will. But by that time they should just replace him. Once you reach the forced recusal threshold you should just be replaced. But with this and Clarence Thomas… I have no clue why this is deemed acceptable. Also the supreme court should be larger … a lot larger.

  • OccamsRazer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    His wife flew the flags, supposedly. Which could be true or could be just his excuse. The pine tree flag is being turned into a right wing extremist symbol specifically to attack Alito. It has never been an issue before, and has been flown all over the place, including San Francisco’s city hall. It’s very weird and should be very concerning to everyone. I’m not even speaking to his credibility or fitness for the position he has, but the fact that someone is making a concerted effort to rewrite history in order to attack the Supreme Court is crazy.

    But at this point, the damage is done and a flag that actually meant something has become tarnished in public opinion to the point where it’s lost it’s meaning and value.