Justice Samuel Alito should be disqualified from hearing Donald Trump’s immunity case because of a seemingly pro-Trump flag that was hanging outside his house, a law professor has said.
The New York Times revealed that Alito, a Supreme Court justice, had an upside-down American flag, a symbol of the then president’s “Stop the Steal” campaign, hanging outside his house in the days before Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021.
Alito, who was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush, said in a statement that his wife had flown the upside-down U.S. flag in response to “personally insulting” political signs hung by a neighbor near Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia.
The upside-down American flag, a nautical distress signal, was used by Trump supporters to symbolize their false claim that Biden had stolen the 2020 presidential election. The flag at the Alito home was seen flying 11 days after Trump supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an effort to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s win.
Newsweek reached out to Alito and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts via email for comment on Monday.
Peter Shane, a constitutional law professor at New York University, told Newsweek that Alito will no..