An attorney said Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was "flagrantly ignoring" fundamental rules when he displayed an upside-down U.S. flag, which is considered a symbol of support for former President Donald Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud.
On May 16, The New York Times published a photo of the upside-down flag being flown outside Alito's home in Alexandria, Virginia, on January 17, 2021, three days before President Joe Biden was inaugurated.
In an emailed statement to the Times, Alito said his wife was to blame for the flag.
"I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag," Alito's statement said. "It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs."
Writing in her Civil Discourse blog, Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor, said Friday that under ethics rules, judges were not permitted to display political signs.
"Justice Alito seems to have forgotten, or perhaps he's just flagrantly ignoring, the fundamental truth of this Republic, which is that judges are not meant to be above the law," she wrote.
"If anything, they must hold themselves to a higher standard in service to ensure that American justice holds the high standards of the Founding Fathers to whom Justice Alito frequently pays lip service," Vance continued.
The upside-down flag, which is traditionally meant to signal that the country is in distress, has come to be used by Trump's most loyal allies to endorse his "Stop the Steal" campaign.
The Times said the flag, which was photographed by Alito's neighbors, flew outside his house for several days in January 2021. At the same time, the Supreme Court was considering whether to hear a case related to the 2020 election.
Vance said Alito should recuse himself from two cases currently before the Court, one related to presidential immunity and another about the January 6 riot.
"Will there be any consequences in Alito's case? Doubtful. Will Alito continue to sit on those two cases alongside Clarence Thomas, who has his own ethical issues? Undoubtedly," she wrote.
Newsweek has contacted the Supreme Court for comment via a submission form on its website outside normal working hours.
The news of the upside-down flag outside Alito's home has sparked outrage and condemnation from political commentators and social media users.
"Justice Alito has become increasingly unembarrassed about displaying himself as a partisan, as a consumer of partisan narratives and media," MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said.
"I've never heard anything like this in the entire history of every controversy I've ever known about with the United States Supreme Court," she continued.
On X, formerly Twitter, the author Stephen King commented on the news, writing: "A Supreme Court justice—Samuel Alito—flying an upside-down flag outside his house, indicating Stop the Steal. I have no words."
The actor Jon Cryer also weighed in on the platform, writing: "So let me get this straight, A Supreme Court Justice' spouse was mad that there was an anti Trump sign on her block ... So she puts up a symbol in support for his attempted coup? And Sam Alito thinks that makes it okay?"
Rob Reiner, an actor, wrote on X: "Do we need any more evidence of Trump's destruction of our Democracy than Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito flying a Stop the Steal flag at his house. If we don't destroy Trump this November, we will no longer be the Land of the Free."
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