WASHINGTON – Progressive lawmakers and organizers on Wednesday called on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and to testify before Congress about two flags sympathetic to the insurrectionists that were flown outside his two houses.
With the Supreme Court as a backdrop, a group of about 20 people held signs reading “Investigate Alito” and denounced a “level five fire consuming democracy,” as Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia put it.
Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said: “Chief Justice [John] Roberts and Justice Alito must testify publicly and under oath about the flag-waving incidents and the Court’s handling of them.”
Johnson and Jayapal have each introduced bills aimed at impressive Term limits for Supreme Court judges and Mandate an enforceable code of ethics for the highest court in the land.
Johnson also joined Democratic U.S. Representative Dan Goldman of New York introduced a bill on Tuesday to establish an independent commission of inquiry to examine the ethics of the Supreme Court.
Two flags
An upside-down U.S. flag hung outside Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, just days after supporters of former President Donald Trump breached the Capitol, according to photos released by the New York Times.
An upside down American flag is generally viewed across the political spectrum as a sign of distress or protest.
The Times also reported that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag waved over the judge’s house in Long Island Beach, New Jersey, in the summer of 2023. The white flag with a pine tree can be seen in photos the riots of January 6, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and attacked and injured police officers with flagpoles, bear spray and other improvised weapons.
In a statement published on 29 May letter Alito told lawmakers the flags were raised by his wife and he would refuse to recuse himself from cases related to Jan. 6.
“My wife likes to fly flags, I don’t,” he wrote to Democratic Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Federal Courts.
Both senators, the requested a meeting with Chief Justice Roberts about Alito, have advocated for an ethics bill entitled the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act, which progressive In July 2023, he was removed from the committee along party lines, but did not receive a vote in the plenary.
Supreme Court rulings on the way
This month, the Supreme Court is expected to issue rulings in two cases from January 6 – one of which involves a former police officer who entered the Capitol and Search to drop an obstruction of justice charge. The decision could affect hundreds of cases in which defendants were charged on Jan. 6, as well as the 2020 election interference case against Trump, who faces the same obstruction of justice charge.
The court is also decide whether Trump enjoys immunity from four federal charges alleging that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and knowingly spread false information that incited his supporters to riot on January 6.
Trump appointed three of the current Supreme Court justices: conservatives Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
At Wednesday’s demonstration, one of the leaders, Christina Harvey, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, said: “I don’t know about you, but I prefer Supreme Court justices who fly their American flag the right way up.”
Harvey’s group was one of several outside the Supreme Court, including the Alliance for Justice, whose justice program director, Jake Faleschini, also called for Justice Clarence Thomas’s resignation. A ProPublica investigation revealed the judge received gifts from major Republican donors and traveled with them.
“Even Judge Roberts has neglected his duties. He seems unwilling or unable to address the corruption and abuse of power of his colleagues,” Faleschini said.
Other flag representations
The upside down US flag and the “Appeal to Heaven” flag were also displayed in other locations.
On Friday, the conservative Heritage Foundation raised an upside-down US flag outside its office in Washington, DC, after Trump’s Guilty verdict in New York on charges of hush money, according to reporting from NPR and photos from The Associated Press.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, a leading voice in the legal movement to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, is displaying the flag bearing the inscription “Appeal to Heaven” in front of his congressional office, according to a report. reporting by Associated Press.
The flag was also spotted (*6*)outside the office Republican Representative Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin.
