WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is involved in a second flag controversy in a few weeks, this time over a banner that in recent years has come to symbolize sympathies with the Christian nationalist movement and the false claim that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen.
An “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown last summer outside Alito’s beach vacation home in New Jersey, according to The New York Times, which obtained several images showing it on different dates in July and September 2023. The Times previously reported that an upside down American flag — a sign of distress — flew out of Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, less than two weeks after the violent January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Some of the protesters carried the inverted American flag or the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which shows a green pine tree on a white field. The revelations have raised concerns about Alito’s impartiality and his ability to objectively decide cases currently before the court related to the Jan. 6 attackers and Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. at your summer home.
Here is the history and current symbolism of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag.
WHAT ARE YOUR ORIGINS?
Ted Kaye, secretary of the North American Vexillological Associationwho studies flags and their meaning, said the “Appeal to Heaven” flag dates to the Revolutionary War.
Six schooners equipped by George Washington to intercept British ships at sea raised the flag in 1775 while sailing under his command. It became the maritime flag of Massachusetts in 1776 and remained so until 1971, he said.
According to Americanflags.com, the pine tree on the flag symbolized strength and resilience in the New England colonies, while the words “Appeal to Heaven” derived from the belief that God would free the colonists from tyranny.
HOW HAS ITS SYMBOLISM CHANGED?
There are a few different reasons why people fly “Call to Heaven” flags these days, said Jared Holt, senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based think tank that monitors hate, misinformation and extremism online. .
Some fans identify with a “patriot” movement obsessed with the Founding Fathers and the American Revolution, he said. Others adhere to a Christian nationalist worldview that seeks to elevate Christianity in public life.
“It’s not very clear which of those reasons would be correct” in this situation, Holt said. But he called the display outside Alito’s home “alarming,” saying those who fly the flag often advocate “more intolerant and restrictive forms of government aligned with a specific religious philosophy.”
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag was among several flags carried by the Jan. 6 protesters, who also favored religious flags symbolizing the white Christian nationalist movement, the Confederate flag and the yellow flag. Gadsden Flag, with its rattlesnake and the message “Don’t Tread on Me,” said Bradley Onishi, author of “Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism.”
“This is family,” he said.
WHAT ABOUT MIKE JOHNSON?
House Speaker Mike Johnson displays the flag in the hallway outside his office, next to the flag of his home state of Louisiana. He said he has been flying “for as long as I can remember.”
Johnson, a Republican, told the Associated Press that he was unaware that the flag came to represent the “Stop the Steal” movement.
“I’ve never heard that before,” he said.
The speaker, who led one of Trump’s legal challenges until the 2020 elections, he defended the flag and its continued use, despite the modern symbolism that surrounds it.
“I’ve always flown that flag for as long as I can remember, because I was so in love with Washington using it,” Johnson said. “The Appeal to Heaven flag is a critical and important part of American history. It’s something I’ve always revered since I was young.”
He added: “People misuse our symbols all the time. That doesn’t mean we don’t use symbols anymore.”
Johnson said he never flew the U.S. flag upside down in a dangerous situation, as Alito did, and refused to assess the state of justice and whether flying the flags at his home was appropriate.
But he called criticism of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag “fabricated.”
“It’s absurd,” he said. “It’s part of our history. We don’t remove statues and we don’t cover up things that are so essential to who we are as a country.”
SHOULD ALITO REFUSE?
House Democratic Leader Katherine Clark of Massachusetts said in a statement that the display of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag at an Alito home “was not just another example of extremism overtaking conservatism. This is a threat to the rule of law and a serious violation of Justice Alito’s ethics, integrity, and oath of office.”
She asked Alito to recuse himself from any cases related to January 6th It is the former president.
There is a clear difference between the Speaker of the House displaying the flag outside his office and a Supreme Court justice flying it and the American flag upside down outside their homes while the court is deciding cases involving issues that these flags have come to represent. symbolize, said Alicia Bannon, director of the Judiciary Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.
Alito’s actions didn’t “just cross the line,” she said. “They get you out of the stadium and out of the parking lot.”
Alito and the court declined to respond to requests for comment on how the “Appeal to Heaven” flag came to be flown and what it was intended to express.
Alito said the inverted American flag was briefly raised by his wife during a dispute with neighbors and that he had no role in it.
ANOTHER BLOW TO THE COURT’S REPUTATION
The Supreme Court was already under attack as it considered unprecedented cases against Trump and some of those accused of the crime. attack on the Capitol.
One issue at the heart of the controversy is that the high court does not need to adhere to the same codes of ethics that guide other federal judges. The Supreme Court had long lacked its own code of ethicsbut adopted one in November 2023, in the face of constant criticism about undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors for some justices, including Alito. The code lacks means of enforcement, however.
The federal code of judicial ethics does not universally prohibit judges from engaging in nonpartisan or religious activities outside the courtroom. But it says that a judge “shall not participate in extrajudicial activities that undermine the dignity of the office of judge, interfere with the performance of the judge’s official duties” or “reflect negatively on the judge’s impartiality.”
Jeremy Fogel, executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute at the University of California, Berkeley Law School, said the flag revelations raise questions about whether Alito can be impartial in any case related to Jan. 6 or Trump.
“Displaying these specific flags creates at least the appearance that justice is signifying agreement with these views at a time when there are cases before the court where these views are relevant,” he said.
A March AP/NORC poll found that only about a quarter of Americans think the Supreme Court is doing a reasonable or very good job defending democratic values. About 45% think they are doing a somewhat or very bad job.
Tony Carrk, executive director of Accountable.US, a progressive watchdog organization, said the controversy shows that more steps are needed to implement the court’s code of ethics.
“There is a reason why confidence in the credibility of the Supreme Court among the American people has fallen to an all-time low,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
