WASHINGTON — Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday rejected calls to recuse himself from from two pending cases relating to former President Donald Trump amid outrage about contentious flags flown at his private properties.
Alito wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders that the two incidents involving flags at his home in Virginia and a vacation property in New Jersey first reported by The New York Times “do not meet the conditions for recusal” set out in the Supreme Court’s newly adopted ethics code.
Alito said that in both instances “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 no recusal was required.
He took no responsibility for the flying of the flags, placing the blame on his wife, Martha-Ann Alito. Neighbors said that an upside-down U.S. flag was flown in early 2021 just after Jan. 6 and the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
The following year, a flag linked with conservative Christians bearing the motto “Appeal to Heaven” was flown at the vacation home.
“My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not,” he wrote. “My wife was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years.”
Alito said his wife is an “independently minded private citizen” who possesses First Amendment rights like “every other American.”
“She makes her own decisions, and I have always respected her right to do so,” he wrote. “She has made many sacrifices to accommodate my 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.”
The Supreme Court is currently weighing two cases that are related to the former president: Trump’s presidential immunity claim in his election interference case, and an appeal brought by a man prosecuted for his role on the day.
