Associate Justice Samuel Alito poses during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, April 23, 2021.
Erin Schaff | Pool | Reuters
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday rejected Democratic lawmakers’ requests that he recuse himself from key cases related to former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot following reports that flags linked to Trump’s supporters were flown at his properties.
Alito said in two letters to the lawmakers that he had “nothing whatsoever to do with the flying of” an upside-down U.S. flag at his Virginia home days before the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Alito also said he had “no involvement” in flying a flag bearing the “Appeal to Heaven” symbol in the backyard of his vacation home in the summer of 2023.
Rather, he said in the letters, his wife was “solely responsible” for putting up the flagpoles and flying “a wide variety of flags over the years.”
“My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not,” Alito wrote.
The answer means the conservative justice remains involved as the court considers Trump’s claim that he is immune from being charged in the federal election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump argues that he enjoys broad presidential immunity from prosecution for official acts he performed as president, even after leaving office.
The Supreme Court’s decision on that question, which could further delay or effectively end Smith’s case against the former president, is pending. The court is next scheduled to release opinions on Thursday morning, but it may not rule on Trump’s case until later.
The New York Times first reported earlier in May that the inverted American flag — a symbol used by supporters of Trump’s false claim that Biden’s victory in the 2020 election was rigged — was flown at Alexandria, Virginia, home of the justice and his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, on Jan. 17, 2021.
Soon after, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urged Alito to step aside from cases related to the 2020 election and the Capitol riot, including Trump’s immunity case.
“Flying an upside-down American flag — a symbol of the so-called ‘Stop the Steal’ movement — clearly creates the appearance of bias,” Durbin wrote.
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