A damning new report from The New York Times this week revealed that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's house displayed an upside-down flag — a popular symbol used by MAGA election conspiracy theorists — right around the time that the Supreme Court decided against taking up a Pennsylvania-based challenge to the 2020 presidential election, over Alito's own objections.
Now, a Fox News reporter who spoke to Alito is revealing new details, that have triggered even more questions.
"I spoke directly with Justice #Alito about the flag story in the NYT. In addition to what's in the story, he told me a neighbor on their street had a 'F--- Trump' sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in Jan 21. Mrs. Alito brought this up with the neighbor," posted Shannon Bream on X.
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"According to Justice Alito, things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan 6th attacks," Bream continued. "Justice Alito says he and his wife were walking in the neighborhood and there were words between Mrs. Alito and a male at the home with the sign. Alito says the man engaged in vulgar language, 'including the c-word'. Following that exchange, Mrs. Alito was distraught and hung the flag upside down 'for a short time'. Justice Alito says some neighbors on his street are 'very political' and acknowledges it was a very heated time in January 2021."
This explanation for overtly political and election-denial symbols at the home of a Supreme Court justice didn't satisfy many people.
Congressional staffer Aaron Fritschner pointed out that Alito's excuse that his wife was upset about vulgarity near a school bus stop doesn't add up: "Justice Alito says his wife Martha-Ann Alito had an altercation with neighbors about a ''F--- Trump' sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in Jan 21.' Except... FCPS and ACPS were all remote in January of 2021. No children were waiting for buses," he wrote.
Other commenters criticized the arrogance in Alito's explanation.
"Best part of the Alito statement, the most perfect distillation of his entire worldview is him saying that it’s his *neighbors* who are 'very political.' Not the Alitos of course! The ones who went through the trouble of flying the coup flag!" wrote MSNBC host Chris Hayes. "The Alitos are victims of rabid, nasty ideologues everywhere they go. But *they* have no animus or ideological drive. It’s everyone else."
"That a Supreme Court justice is so thin-skinned that neighbors saying vulgar things caused him to allow his home to fly a treasonous flag is not reassuring at all. This man has no business on the Supreme Court. Period," wrote former Associate White House Counsel and Protect Democracy founder Ian Bassin.
According to the New Yorker's Susan Glasser, the new details made things worse for Alito.
"Fascinating thread with Justice Alito’s direct excuse," she wrote on X. "Remarkably he admits the upside-down flag flown on his home was a direct response to his wife being mad at a neighbor’s ‘F--- Trump’ sign—ie an explicitly partisan gesture."
