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Senate Democrats have repeatedly raised concerns about Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, though they’ve been reluctant to take meaningful steps to address the controversies surrounding the far-right jurist. That said, in the wake of Alito’s latest controversies, the two top Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee requested a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts to address “the Supreme Court’s ethics crisis.” NBC News reported:
In the letter released Friday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asked to meet with Roberts “as soon as possible” and renewed their “call for the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable code of conduct for justices.” The senators wrote that Alito created “reasonable doubt as to his impartiality” and repeated calls for him to recuse himself in cases related to Trump and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The entirety of the four-page letter from the Democratic senators was posted online.
There’s no great mystery as to what precipitated the outreach. Alito was already one of the nation’s most controversial jurists, but his reputation deteriorated further when The New York Times published this report, noting that in early 2021, between the Jan. 6 attack and Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, an upside-down American flag flew in front of Alito’s home. It was, at the time, a prominent symbol embraced by far-right “Stop the Steal” activists who believed nonsensical conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
After the report jolted the political world, Alito turned to — who else? — Fox News, explaining that his wife hoisted the upside-down flag after some unpleasant interactions with purportedly rude neighbors. His comments largely made the burgeoning controversy worse.
Soon after, as Chris Geidner was first to report, Alito also apparently sold Bud Light stock in the midst of far-right hysterics about the company partnering with a trans influencer.
The justice didn’t need another damaging revelation, but the Times reported last week on a second flag controversy: At Alito’s vacation house in New Jersey, there was an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which was also carried by Jan. 6 rioters. The article added, “Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms.”
This, evidently, led Durbin and Whitehouse to conclude that it was time for a chat with the Supreme Court’s chief justice, in the hopes that Roberts will prevent Alito from participating in cases related to the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 attack.
To date, the chief justice does not appear to have responded. What’s more, it’s not altogether clear what Roberts would — or could — do in response to a situation like this, even if he agreed with the senators.
Nevertheless, Friday’s correspondence suggests key Democratic senators, who appeared rather passive about Alito’s antics, are now eyeing possible next steps. Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.