Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito will not recuse himself from cases involving the Jan. 6, 2021, incursion at the U.S. Capitol or from cases involving the 2020 election, he said Wednesday.
The jurist has faced pressure to recuse himself from the cases for weeks since The New York Times published separate stories about flags that were flown at his homes in recent years.
In one instance, the Times reported, an American flag was flown upside down at Alito’s residence in Virginia in January 2021.
Last September, according to the far-left paper, the judge’s New Jersey home displayed a Revolutionary War-era “Appeal to Heaven” flag.
Democrats have claimed the flags connect Alito to the protest and eventual incursion at the Capitol. Furthermore, some have argued the flags have damaged his ability to appear impartial in the eyes of the public.
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Alito’s wife flew both flags, he told the Times, saying one was displayed during a dispute with a neighbor involving yard signs that were meant to insult the couple.
On Wednesday, Alito offered his official response to lawmakers who want him to sit on his hands as the country’s high court prepares to take on cases with far-reaching consequences.
The Washington Post reported, in a letter to Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Dick Durbin of Illinois, Alito said he would not recuse himself.
Because he said neither flag flown at his properties warranted him to sit on the sidelines of important cases, he stated, “I am therefore duty-bound to reject your recusal request.”
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He also defended his wife Martha-Ann’s right to express herself.
“My wife is a private citizen, and she possesses the same First Amendment rights as every other American,” Alito told the Senate Democrats. “She makes her own decisions, and I have always respected her right to do so.”
Alito also said that he had no prior knowledge the flags would be displayed and that when he saw them he asked her to take them down.
While addressing outrage that some “Stop the Steal” protesters carried the same flag on Jan. 6, the jurist stated that “the use of an old historic flag by a new group does not necessarily drain that flag of all other meanings” and that Mrs. Alito had no knowledge the flags had been displayed at the Capitol by protesters.
Alito told the Times two weeks ago he had “no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag” outside his home in Virginia in early 2021.
He added the upside-down American flag was “briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
An inverted American flag has historically been used as a signal of distress.
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag was designed by Col. Joseph Reed during his time serving George Washington during the American Revolution, according to American Flags.
The website further noted, “General Washington chose the tree as a further symbol of independence. He believed that although the colonists were going against a tremendous [British] military force, an even greater power sustained them. They could directly appeal to heaven without an intercessor.”
