A second flag carried by rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol was displayed outside a home owned by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, according to a shocking report in The New York Times.
The newspaper published photos from neighbors and from Google Street View that show an “Appeal to Heaven” flag flying outside the justice’s beach house in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
The flag, featuring a green pine tree on a white background, dates to the Revolutionary War, but is now linked with Christian nationalists and those who support former President Donald Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) displayed the flag in his office last year after he was elected to the post.
A Google Maps image taken in August 2023 shows the “Appeal to Heaven” flag flying outside a beach home the Times identified as Alito’s.
The Supreme Court did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The latest report comes after a New York Times investigation found an upside-down American flag — used as a symbol for Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement” — was flown outside the justice’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, on Jan. 17, 2021. That was just over a week after the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol — and as the nation’s high court was hearing cases about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.
Alito issued a brief statement about the upside-down flag, saying he was not responsible for its display outside his home and that it linked to a dispute his wife was having with neighbors at the time.
“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” he told the Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
The dual flag reports have prompted many Democrats to call on Alito to recuse himself from cases involving the Jan. 6 attack, with some House members saying the symbols create, “at minimum, the appearance of improper political bias.” Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the decision to fly the upside-down flag did not display “good judgement.”
Two cases are currently pending before the court related to Jan. 6, including Trump’s claims he is immune to all prosecution linked to his duties while in the White House.
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