Martha-Ann Alito, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito‘s wife, asserted from the beginning that her display of an upside-down American flag was meant as a “signal of distress.”
A since-retired Washington Post reporter included coverage of an exchange shared with Alito on the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration in a report published Saturday. She brushed off any questions regarding the flag, which at the time was not flying upside down, claiming, “It’s an international signal of distress.” Her husband recently explained that it was born out of a confrontation with their neighbor.
“Ask them what they did,” she told the reporter, in reference to the neighbor.
The Alitos’ neighbors had put out yard signs with crude language in their cul-de-sac, near where a bus drops off school-aged children. Alito hung the flag the way she did in response to the signs, which allegedly devolved into personal attacks against Alito herself.
“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Samuel Alito said in response to the news coverage on the matter. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
The upside-down flag began as an SOS signal per maritime tradition. Alito is the daughter of an Air Force veteran and was born on the Fort Knox military base in Kentucky. Following the riots of Jan. 6, 2021, Trump supporters began flying the flag upside down, which led many to associate the symbol with the “Stop the Steal” movement.
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The Alitos did not attend Biden’s inauguration. Samuel Alito has rules he must abide by when it comes to displaying signs or bumper stickers, as justices are prohibited from displaying any sort of partisan position.
Samuel Alito has served on the Supreme Court since 2006 and has been married to Martha-Ann Alito for over 20 years.
