By Jesse Wegman
Thanks to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s neighbors, Jodi Kantor of The Times was able to report a shocking bit of news on Thursday: In January 2021, shortly after the deadly Capitol assault incited by Donald Trump, Alito’s front yard openly displayed an upside-down American flag — an unmistakable pro-Trump symbol used by those who believed the 2020 election was stolen.
But wait: It turns out this wasn’t Alito’s fault. “I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” he told The Times, explaining that the flag was “briefly placed” there by his wife, Martha-Ann, in an escalation of a neighborhood spat that included “objectionable and personally insulting language” on yard signs.
For a guy who earns his paycheck evaluating the quality of arguments, Justice Alito is remarkably bad at coming up with ones in his own defense. Even if he had no role in raising the flag, what stopped him from taking it down immediately and apologizing profusely for his wife’s intemperance? Doesn’t his failure to do so suggest tacit agreement if not outright support — not only for a violent insurrection based on a demonstrable lie but also for one of the litigants who was at that time before his court arguing over the election?
This disregard for the appearance of bias is in line with how Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, in particular, have long approached their job and the enormous power they wield. (You may recall that Thomas’s wife, Ginni, cosplayed as a legal insurrectionist who tried to overturn the 2020 election.) That disregard extends to the institution of the Supreme Court and to the American people forced to live under its edicts. How are we expected to respect a court that has so little respect for us?
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