Senate Democrats say a new revelation that a “Call to Heaven” flag, a symbol adopted by Jan. 6 protesters, flying from Justice Samuel Alito’s beach house is the latest troubling sign that the Supreme Court , conservative-leaning, is “out of control” and pushing a “partisan” agenda.
Democrats say it’s the latest sign that Alito and another conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, have set aside decorum and judicial ethics and let their personal opinions and friendships reign over any sense of obligation to avoid the appearance of bias. or political favor.
“We have an out-of-control majority on the Supreme Court,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressing a sentiment shared by other Democrats.
Democrats say the latest evidence of Alito’s personal political views adds to bombshell reports published by ProPublica last year that he and Thomas accepted tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from wealthy conservatives who had business directly before the Supreme Court or who would benefit. generally from court decisions.
“The frustration with the court that it is illegitimate is extremely high,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who met with constituents in nine different counties last weekend.
“Compared to 20 years ago, you never heard of this as an issue. There was a feeling that the court was above politics, they were calling the shots and pushing back, and that has completely disappeared,” he said. “It’s been so accentuated by recent events.”
A Thursday report from The New York Times that a white flag with a green pine tree, which has become a symbol of a Christian-minded government, flew outside Alito’s 2023 vacation home, sparked new alarm among Democrats.
These Democrats increasingly believe that the high court is becoming blatantly political.
The news came just days after the Times reported that an inverted flag — a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement — was displayed at Alito’s home following the 2020 election, prompting angry Democrats to call on Alito to recuse himself. to participate in an election. awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling on whether Trump should be immune from federal prosecution.
Merkley said stories about the flags will fuel calls for Supreme Court reform, whether through expanding the number of justices or rotating justices to preserve the court’s ideological balance. He also cited the court’s failure to adopt a binding ethics code following reports that Alito and Thomas accepted lavish gifts from wealthy conservative benefactors.
“Is there growing political momentum toward court reform? Absolutely yes,” he said.
News of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag hit some senators the same day the Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 ruling to allow South Carolina to keep in effect a congressional map that a lower court found to be a racial gerrymander unconstitutional.
Alito told the Times that his wife flew an inverted American flag on their lawn after fighting with a neighbor who displayed an anti-Trump sign on their property.
But news of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which pro-Trump protesters waved on the East Front of the Capitol on the same day they overran Capitol police to stop the certification of President Biden’s electoral victory, has made Democrats doubt that the tables turned The flag incident at Alito’s house was a one-time occurrence.
“The first instance of the American flag in danger mode [Alito] dismissed as a casual indiscretion by his wife, who was moved by a confrontation with a neighbor. The second one really shows a pattern,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
“This is not a casual indiscretion. This is a conscious decision by the Alito family to publicize their political feelings. This does the Supreme Court no favors, and it should accept responsibility for recusing itself from cases involving the Trump administration,” Durbin said, alluding to the appeal the Supreme Court is now considering over whether Trump should be immune from prosecution. for any crimes involving official acts.
Durbin asked Alito to recuse himself last week after learning of the upside-down flag flying at his home.
He said Thursday that the second Alito-related flag incident demands a congressional response and insisted that Supreme Court ethics legislation should reach the Senate floor this year.
“This is mandatory,” he said. “It should be called. We should at least establish an ethical standard and a standard of refusal.”
Durbin is pushing for a vote on the Supreme Court Ethics, Revocation and Transparency Act, which would require Supreme Court justices to adopt a binding code of conduct and establish a mechanism to investigate alleged violations of that code or other laws.
‘Simply terrible’
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) called the latest flag incident “just terrible.”
“Your responsibility as a Supreme Court judge is to be able to make decisions without fear or favoritism, without favoritism. And yet he is flying flags that clearly signal to anyone that he thinks the election was stolen. He should recuse himself immediately,” she said. “We have to look at that.”
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said he was disturbed by the feeling that Alito or someone close to him appeared to be advocating more “religiosity” in government by flying flags embraced by Christian nationalists.
“A Supreme Court justice has a special obligation to avoid the appearance of any kind of bias, and I think he has already failed in that regard. And secondly, the Constitution provides that the government will not establish any official religion,” he added.
“Not only is he comfortable with religion in government, he is comfortable with a very specific type of religiosity. It’s worrying,” Schatz said. “He’s just behaving like a partisan, and many of us come to that conclusion with regret and don’t want to be the kind of members of Congress who constantly throw barbs at conservative judges, but he crossed some lines here. ”
Even prominent Senate Republicans criticized the display of an upside-down American flag as “not good judgment” and “reckless.”
“It’s not good judgment to do that. He said his wife was insulted and got angry. I assume that’s true, but he’s still a Supreme Court justice and people need to realize that. [at] moments like this to think about it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, told reporters on Monday.
Graham said he was less disturbed by the historic “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which dates back to the Revolutionary War.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was not aware of the report of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag at Alito’s beach house, but said flying an American flag upside down is not appropriate.
“I’m not an expert in judicial ethics, but it seems reckless to me that the inverted American flag should be flown over your house,” she said.
Some Republicans, notably Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), have rallied to Alito’s defense, calling on Democrats to stop criticizing the court.
Asked about the inverted flag at Alito’s home, McConnell told reporters on Tuesday: “It seems to me that there are non-stop attacks on the Supreme Court, week after week. So I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”
“We need to leave the Supreme Court alone, protect them from the people who came into their neighborhoods and tried to harm them,” he said.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
