Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) on Wednesday called on Senate Democrats to launch “active investigations” into two separate reports that flags associated with the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol were on display outside the Supreme Court of Justice Samuel Alito’s house.
“What we are seeing here is an extraordinary violation of not only the trust and stature of the Supreme Court, but we are seeing a fundamental challenge to our democracy,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview on MSNBC’s “All in with Chris Hayes.” ” on Wednesday.
“Samuel Alito identified with the same people who stormed the Capitol on January 6 and will now preside over legal proceedings that have profound implications for the participants in that demonstration,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “And while this is a threat to our democracy, Democrats have a responsibility to defend our democracy.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s comments came after the New York Times reported on Wednesday that a flag carried by protesters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was at one point displayed outside the judge’s vacation home of the Supreme Court, Samuel Alito.
An “Appeal to Heaven” flag — which has origins dating back to the Revolutionary War but is associated with Christian nationalism and “Stop the Steal” efforts today — was seen flying outside Alito’s New Jersey beach house. in July and September 2023, the Times reported. , around the same time a high-profile case on January 6 reached the Supreme Court.
The report comes just days after the Times reported that an upside-down American flag flew outside Alito’s Virginia home in January 2021 — around the time rioters stormed the Capitol as Congress was ready to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections over former President Trump.
The inverted flag is also associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement that grew out of false claims of voter fraud in 2020. Alito said his wife hung the flag during a fight with neighbors.
In Wednesday’s interview, the progressive New Yorker said Democrats, who have a slim majority in the Senate but are a minority in the House, should not wait until the next election to investigate Alito in hopes of winning both chambers.
Ocasio-Cortez said Senate Democrats should begin investigations immediately.
“I don’t even think we have to wait until we have a Democratic majority in the House, because we have a Democratic majority in the Senate,” she said, adding: “In the Senate, we have gavels. There should be subpoenas going out. There should be active investigations going on.”
While Democrats, she said, are preparing to win the House majority and launch a “broader effort to defend” democracy, “I also believe that when Democrats have power, we have to use it.”
“We cannot remain in perpetual campaign mode. We need to be in governance mode. We need to be in accountability mode with every lever we have,” she continued, “because we cannot take the Senate majority for granted, the House majority or the White House for granted.”
“And every minute counts, and we have to use our power when we have it.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
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