Democrats on Thursday stepped up their calls for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from two cases — one involving Donald Trump’s claims of immunity from prosecution and another related to the attack on the Capitol — after it emerged that a second provocative flag flew outside one of their houses.
A flag with the phrase “Appeal to Heaven” flew in front of Alito’s vacation home on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, in July and September 2023, the New York Times reported Wednesday, citing photographs and interviews.
This type of flag, which has come to symbolize some conservative activists’ hopes for a more Christian-centered American government, was carried by some Trump supporters during the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021.
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The report comes days after it was revealed that an inverted American flag had flown in front of Alito’s home in Virginia following the riot and in the days leading up to Democratic President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
The inverted flag was adopted as a symbol by some Trump supporters, including some of the rioters who stormed the Capitol as Trump tried to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden with false claims of widespread voter fraud and that the election went to him. stolen.”
Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, said at his weekly news conference that Alito should recuse himself “from any matter pending before the United States Supreme Court having to do with the violent insurrection of January 6. He should not have nothing to do with it.”
If the court “does not get its act together,” congressional Democrats will take the first opportunity “to conduct comprehensive oversight and consider imposing an ethical code of conduct on Supreme Court justices,” Jeffries told journalists.
The court last November adopted its first formal code of conduct governing the ethical behavior of its nine judges.
Democrat Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also called on Alito to “immediately recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6 insurrection,” calling the latest development “another example of apparent “ethical misconduct by a sitting judge, and adds to the court’s current ethical crisis.”
Durbin also said the new matter “will further erode public faith in the court,” and that conservative Chief Justice John Roberts “must see how this is harming the court and immediately enact an enforceable code of conduct.” .
Alito, a member of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Alito indicated last week that his wife had raised the inverted flag in front of their home in the Washington suburb of Alexandria in a dispute with a neighbor who was displaying an anti-Trump sign.
Members of the judiciary are often very careful to avoid even the appearance of impartiality.
With information from Reuters
