Martha-Ann Alito, a Kentucky native and University of Kentucky alumna, is at the center of one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s biggest controversies.
Due to the highly debated flags allegedly placed by Alito, her husband, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, faced calls to recuse himself from potential Supreme Court cases involving the U.S. Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021, and the 2020 presidential elections.
The judge has been adamant in his refusal to recuse himself, emphasizing Martha-Ann’s role in placing the flags, which have ties to the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. They were seen at demonstrations in support of former President Donald Trump , who is likely to win the Republican Party’s presidential nomination this summer.
An inverted U.S. flag flew at Alito’s Northern Virginia home in early 2021. And a second flag linked to the Jan. 6 riot, the “Appeal to Heaven,” dates back to the Revolutionary War and flew at Alito’s new home. family. Jersey holiday home.
In letters to Congress this week, the judge reiterated that it is his wife’s fault for raising the flag, and he supports her right to fly it.
“My wife is a private citizen and enjoys the same First Amendment rights as every American,” the judge wrote. “She makes her own decisions and I have always respected her right to do so.”
He added: “My wife likes to fly flags. It is not me.”
Martha-Ann Alito, formerly Martha-Ann Bomgardner, received her bachelor’s degree in comparative literature in the United Kingdom in 1975, according to a copy of the University of Kentucky yearbook that year reviewed Wednesday by the Herald-Leader.
A graduation program from the same year lists his hometown as Wiesbaden, Germany – Bomgarden’s father served in the Air Force. In 2010 History of the Herald-Leader, Bomgardner studied textiles and merchandising before switching to comparative literature two semesters before graduation.
She then received a master’s degree in library science in the United Kingdom School of Library and Information Science in 1977, listing his home as New Jersey.
She met Samuel Alito working as a librarian at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark, New Jersey, where he worked as an assistant U.S. attorney. They got married five years after their first date.
Justice Alito is considered one of six conservative-leaning justices on the nation’s highest court. He was appointed to the bench by former Republican Party President George W. Bush in 2006.
In 2010, Martha-Ann Alito was guest of honor at the UK Singletary Centre.
There was no talk of patriotism or flags that night, according to the Herald-Leader’s coverage of his appearance.
Instead, the future Mrs. Alito, sporting a bright red, white and blue flag pin, recalled her time in Lexington and growing up in Floyd County at the event hosted by the UK College of Law and a nonprofit now inactive called Bluegrass Hellenic Ideals Program dedicated to promoting “ancient Hellenic principles.”
According to a 2010 Herald-Leader report at the event, Martha-Ann spoke about her roots in Fort Knox – her father served in the Air Force – as well as Floyd County. She said her time in Kentucky shaped her, joking that her mother, a New Jersey native, used to complain about how much time she spent barefoot.
“She just couldn’t keep me in place,” Martha-Ann Alito said. “I considered it a great source of pride.”
She was invited to speak by then-Vice Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court Mary Noble of Lexington. Noble did not respond to requests for comment this week.
“I thought it would be interesting, if we were talking about judicial people, to listen to the family instead of the judge,” Noble said. said before the 2010 event. “My husband always tells me that the perspective of a judge’s family is often forgotten.
At the event, Alito expressed frustration with national media coverage of her husband at the time of his Supreme Court confirmation process in 2006.
She said she tried to ignore the “daily ad hominem attacks that bordered on the ridiculous” against her husband. She also remembered reporters walking up and down her street trying to interview neighbors and family members during this process.
Martha-Ann and her husband also attended a reception that weekend, where the two were named Colonels of Kentucky and socialized with many of the region’s legal elite.
This included former Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John Minton, who remembered Martha-Ann as “friendly, warm and very talkative” in that setting. He also said her speech reflected Lexington pride.
“My memory is that in terms of her relationships with students, she was very outgoing and warm and engaged with students,” Minton said. “She is very proud of her connection to Kentucky. She had a very warm feeling about Lexington and the United Kingdom.”
Longtime University of Kentucky Law School professor Paul Salamanca also recalled a talkative Martha-Ann, contrasting with the markedly reserved justice.
“She is much more extroverted than her husband, who is a kind of quiet guy,” said Salamanca.
