Alito rejects calls to quit Supreme Court cases on Trump and Jan. 6 because of flag controversies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving former President Donald Trump and Jan. 6 defendants, saying his wife hoisted the two controversial flags that flew above their homes.

“My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not,” Alito wrote Wednesday.

In letters to members of Congress, Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann, was responsible for flying both an upside-down flag over their home in 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at their New Jersey beach house last year. Both flags were like those carried by rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021 while echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud.

Neither incident at Alito's homes merited his recusal, wrote the justice, who has rejected calls from Democrats in the past to recuse on other issues.

“I am confident that a reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that the events ... do not meet the applicable standard for recusal,” he wrote. “I am therefore required to reject your request.”

Supreme Court justices decide for themselves whether to sit out a case and the only potential consequence for refusing to step aside is impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal from office by the Senate. That has never happened in American history.

Trump, who was in New York while jurors deliberated in his hush money criminal trial, congratulated Alito for “showing the INTELLIGENCE, COURAGE, and ‘GUTS’” in refusing to step aside. “All U.S. Judges, Justices, and Leaders should have such GRIT,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Some Senate Republicans also quickly took to social media Wednesday to praise Alito for staying involved in the cases.

The court is considering two major cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Trump supporters on the Capitol, including charges faced by the rioters and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges.

The New York Times reported that an inverted American flag was seen at Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, less than two weeks after the attack on the Capitol. The paper also reported that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown outside the justice’s beach home in New Jersey last summer.

The “Appeal to Heaven” flag has in recent years come to symbolize sympathies with the Christian nationalist movement and the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. According to Americanflags.com, the pine tree on the flag symbolized strength and resilience in the New England colonies while the words “Appeal to Heaven” stemmed from the belief that God would deliver the colonists from tyranny.

An upside-down American flag has come to be a symbol associated with Trump’s bogus fraud claims. Dozens of the pro-Trump rioters were carrying similarly inverted flags and chanting slogans like “Stop the Steal” on Jan. 6, 2021. The U.S. Flag Code states that the American flag is not to be flown upside down “except as a signal of dire distress in instance of extreme danger to life or property.” The inverted flag has been used as a protest symbol on both the left and the right on a range of issues over the decades.

Alito said he was unaware that the upside-down flag was flying above his house until it was called to his attention. “As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused,” he wrote in nearly identical letters to Democrats in the House and the Senate.

He had previously explained to the newspaper that his wife put up the flag as part of a nasty neighborhood dispute.

The flag at his beach house was also hoisted by his wife, Alito wrote, noting that the house is in her name and was bought with money she inherited from her parents.

Alito said he was unfamiliar with the “Appeal to Heaven” flag when it was flown, but he noted it dates back to the American Revolution. “I was not aware of any connection between this historic flag and the 'Stop the Steal Movement' and neither was my wife,” Alito wrote.

He said Martha-Ann Alito did not fly that flag to associate herself with the rioters or the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which Trump, a Republican, lost to Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Calling her an independently-minded private citizen, Alito wrote, “She makes her own decisions and I honor her right to do so.”

Alito also described the sacrifices his wife has made because of her husband's service on the Supreme Court, including “the insult of having to endure numerous, loud, obscene and personally insulting protests in front of our home that continue to this day and now threaten to escalate.”

Protests began in 2022 after a draft of Alito's majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing states to ban abortions was leaked in early May. The court formally issued the decision in late June.

Democrats in the House and the Senate sent a total of three letters last week to Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts seeking Alito's disqualification from the cases. Senators asked for a meeting with Roberts.

Alito said it was better that he respond directly.

Judicial ethics codes focus on the need for judges to be independent, avoiding political statements or opinions on matters they could be called on to decide. The Supreme Court had long gone without its own code of ethics, but it adopted one in November 2023 in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices.

The code lacks a means of enforcement, though, and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation last year that would set stricter standards. But Republicans have been staunchly opposed to any efforts to tell the court what to do.

Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

The Appeal to Heaven flag stands with the Louisiana state flag outside the district office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the Cannon House Office Building, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 23, 2024. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is embroiled in a second flag controversy, this time over the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a banner that in recent years has come to symbolize Christian nationalism and the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The flag was seen outside his New Jersey beach home last summer. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - People carry an "Appeal To Heaven" flag as they gather at Independence Mall to support President Donald Trump during a visit to the National Constitution Center to participate in the ABC News town hall, Sept. 15, 2020, in Philadelphia. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is embroiled in a second flag controversy, this time over the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a banner that in recent years has come to symbolize Christian nationalism and the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The flag was seen outside his New Jersey beach home last summer. (AP Photo/Michael Perez, File)

FILE - Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, left, and Martha-Ann Alito attend his ceremonial swearing-in at the White House Feb. 1, 2006, in Washington. An upside-down American flag was displayed outside of Alito's home Jan. 17, 2021, days after former President Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, The New York Times reports. It's a symbol associated with Trump's false claims of election fraud. "It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs," Alito said in an emailed statement to the newspaper. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - An Appeal To Heaven flag is pictured as people gather at Independence Mall to support President Donald Trump as he visits the National Constitution Center to participate in the ABC News town hall, Sept. 15, 2020, in Philadelphia. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is embroiled in a second flag controversy, this time over the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a banner that in recent years has come to symbolize Christian nationalism and the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The flag was seen outside his New Jersey beach home last summer. (AP Photo/Michael Perez, File)

FILE - Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr., left, and his wife Martha-Ann Alito, pay their respects at the casket of Reverend Billy Graham at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, Feb. 28, 2018. Alito rejects calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases on Trump and Jan. 6. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Alito rejects calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases because of flag controversies

FILE - Associate Justice Samuel Alito joins other members of the Supreme Court as they pose for a new group portrait, Oct. 7, 2022, at the Supreme Court building in Washington. Alito rejects calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases on Trump and Jan. 6. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Alito rejects calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases because of flag controversies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Work on the presidential inauguration platform began Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol with congressional leaders pounding the first ceremonial nails into a stage they cast as a symbol of America's commitment to the peaceful transfer of power — a tradition that was almost upended in 2021 when Donald Trump's supporters violently stormed the Capitol.

As Republican and Democratic leaders gathered in a moment of bipartisanship with Washington’s National Mall spread before them, no direct mention was made of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack where Trump’s supporters used pipes, lumber and other materials from the inauguration stage to attack law enforcement and halt the certification of the election.

But memories of that day, and heightened worries about violence in this year's tense election season after the latest apparent assassination attempt against Trump, shadowed the event.

“These workers will literally set the stage for the peaceful transfer of power,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democrat who chairs the joint committee overseeing preparations for the inauguration.

Preparations for the last inauguration became an integral part of the violence that unfolded at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with rioters swarming the stage and the tall press platform that stands in front of it during their siege of the building.

Workers who were putting finishing touches on the structure had to flee that morning as rioters closed in. They later had to clean up the debris and rebuild parts of the stage for President Joe Biden's inauguration two weeks later.

Klobuchar, flanked by construction workers in hard hats and reflective vests, cast the presidential inauguration next year as an opportunity to “celebrate our democracy and the sacred values that tie us together as a nation.”

Earlier Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who is also on the committee, took aim at Democrats for describing Trump as a threat to democracy, but also called on “everybody” to scale back their attacks.

“Let’s have a vigorous debate on the policy differences, on the records, but let’s turn the rhetoric down because we’re not going to be able to sustain that,” Johnson, R-La., said.

Adding to the symbolism, the six congressional leaders noted the event also coincided with the anniversary of George Washington laying the cornerstone of the Capitol.

Lawmakers hammered a handful of the roughly 500,000 nails that will hold the stage together. House Republican Leader Steve Scalise took to the task eagerly, using his left hand to finish ahead of his colleagues, while Klobuchar finished the ceremony with gusto, banging her hammer with a smile and a laugh.

When finished for the Jan. 20 ceremony, the platform will hold nearly 1,600 people — the president and vice president-elect, past presidents, foreign dignitaries, Supreme Court justices and congressional leaders — to mark the beginning of a new administration.

Above the ceremony, five American flags will fly. One will be the current flag, two have 13 stars for the original colonies, and two hold the number of stars as when the president's home state was admitted to the union.

There will either be a 31-star flag for Vice President Kamala Harris's California or a 27-star flag for Trump's Florida. And the next president will either be the first Black woman and the first South Asian American to serve as president or just the second to succeed in a comeback bid to the White House.

Associated Press photographer J. Scott Applewhite contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., poses for a photo to the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform, on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Tyler Smith, a woodcrafter with the Architect of the Capitol, and Herbert Melgar, a painter, measure out the nail placement for Congress members to hammer for the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform at the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Congress members hammer in the first nails at the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., right and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are seen after the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform, on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Congress members hammer in the first nails at the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

From left, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., arrive to the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform, on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)