Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said the inverted flag that briefly flew over Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home demonstrates a “very clear conflict of interest.”
Raskin told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart during an interview Saturday that Alito’s response to The New York Times’ report on the incident shows that the justice system understands that it is a “political symbol” to turn the American flag upside down, adding that it is a sign of “political anguish.”
“If it were not a very clear political symbol whose meaning is well understood, Justice Alito would not have gone to great lengths to blame everything on his wife,” Raskin said.
The times reported last week that the flag was flown upside down on January 17, 2021. The inverted flag has often been associated with “Stop the Steal” efforts that are based on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Alito claimed he had “no involvement” with the inverted American flag flying over his home after the 2020 election, saying his wife was to blame.
“What we need is to have, at a minimum, an ethics panel of Federal Circuit judges from across the country to whom we can raise complaints of bias in the case, in the very likely event that Judge Alito does not decide to heed calls to step down from this case,” Raskin said Saturday.
“But it is a very clear conflict of interest,” he added.
The inverted flag reignited questions about ethical guidelines for Supreme Court justices. Raskin said the U.S. should have an Inspector General for the Supreme Court “to review all very inadequate financial disclosures.”
“If you’re in the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate, you know, members won’t even go to Starbucks and accept free coffee from a lobbyist. But if you are in the Supreme Court, there are members who take cars, diligences, private school fees for family members, they are helping to pay for family members’ assets,” he said.
“It’s like you know, the billionaire sugar daddies, who are in this Federalist Society ecosystem, are able to attach themselves to specific judges,” he added.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on two cases related to January 6, 2021, including one on whether former President Trump has immunity from prosecution. Following last week’s report, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asked Alito to recuse himself from any cases involving the 2020 election and January 6, including the Trump case .
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) also called on Alito to apologize “for disrespecting the American flag and sympathizing with violent right-wing insurrectionists.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
