WH Criticizes Alito, Urges Respect for the Flag

The White House declined to directly address the flag controversy involving Samuel Alito but indirectly criticized the Supreme Court justice, stating on Friday that President Joe Biden considers the American flag to be sacred.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that there would be no specific response regarding the photo that emerged at Alito’s residence in 2021 showing an upside-down flag before making a statement.

“The president believes that the American flag is sacred … we should be respecting that flag, we should be making sure that it is respected in that way,” Jean-Pierre stated during the press briefing on Friday.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that it had obtained a photograph displaying an upside-down flag at Alito’s home in Virginia on January 17, 2021, just days before Biden’s inauguration. The inverted flag has been utilized as a symbol by MAGA and “Stop the steal” supporters of former President Donald Trump following the 2020 election.

Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on Friday called for Alito to recuse himself from any cases related to the January 6 riots and 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, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Friday.

Jean-Pierre mentioned that the White House would not take a similar stance. “I do not want to delve into the specifics of whether Supreme Court justices should recuse themselves or not from cases. That is a decision for the court as a whole; they must make that determination. This is not something we will intervene in — we will refrain from commenting on it from here.”

Regarding the incident, Alito clarified that he was not involved with the placement of the inverted flag, stating that his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, displayed it as a response to a disagreement with a neighbor.

“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito stated in a communication with The Times. “It was briefly displayed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor using objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”