By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. blasted U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito after an upside-down American flag seen hanging at his residence in Alexandria, Va., days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021.
The upside-down flag is a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement used by former President Donald Trump supporters, after Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden.
Alito has since denied the flag’s placement and stated that his wife turned the flag upside down due to a spat with a neighbor.
Despite the justice’s explanation, Jeffries said in a statement obtained by the AFRO that “Alito should apologize immediately for disrespecting the American flag and sympathizing with right-wing violent insurrectionists.”
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. said in a statement that “U.S. law mandates that the flag of the United States of America ‘…should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.’”
Several Democratic lawmakers, including Jeffries, are now demanding that Justice Alito “recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election and former President Donald Trump.”
Johnson said in a statement that if Alito refuses to recuse himself it “would only further erode public trust and confidence in the Supreme Court, and in the Rule of Law the Court has a duty to uphold.”
“It is well documented that the insurrection supporting ‘Stop the Steal’ activists used the upside-down flag as a symbol of protest against the 2020 election results,” said Johnson. “Justice Alito blamed the upside-down flag on his wife. It is apparent that Justices Alito and Thomas, along with their wives, are MAGA kindred spirits.”
On the contrary, Attorney Joseph McBride, CEO of the McBride Law Firm, took to X to share his thoughts and stated that he stands with the justice.
McBride “fully right to express his constitutionally protected political opinion that America, is indeed, a nation in distress.”
While some believe that Alito has every right to openly support the former president, others believe that U.S. Supreme Court justices should remain politically neutral.