Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito had an upside-down US flag outside his Virginia home just weeks after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, when it was being used as a symbol of MAGA’s “Stop the Steal” agenda.
A photo of the inverted flag, now widely associated with former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud, was published by the New York Times on Thursday.
Alito, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, didn’t deny that the upside-down flag was flown over his front lawn — but blamed it on his wife, Martha-Ann Alito.
“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” the conservative justice told the outlet.
“It was briefly placed by Mrs Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
According to US code for the flag, it should never be displayed upside down “except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”
However, some MAGA supporters started displaying upside-down US flags as a show of support for Trump in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.
The photo of the flag outside Alito’s home was apparently snapped by alarmed neighbors on Jan. 17, 2021, but The Times reported that it had only recently obtained the image.
Neighbors claimed Alito’s wife had been in a dispute with another family in the neighborhood over an anti-Trump sign on their lawn at the time — and they interpreted the flag as a political statement supporting “Stop the Steal.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if it was meant to signal support for Trump, or how long it was flying for.
The publication of the photo comes as the Supreme Court justices consider two major cases tied to the Jan. 6 attack — including whether Trump should enjoy presidential immunity from prosecution, as well as one that could upend hundreds of prosecutions for rioters.
The Supreme Court hasn’t commented publicly on Alito’s flag-flying saga.
