With major cases in front of the Supreme Court surrounding former President Donald Trump’s federal prosecutions and the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Democrats are calling on Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself and for Chief Justice John Roberts to act in the wake of reports that Alito’s homes displayed flags associated with Jan. 6 rioters and far-right conspiracist movements in recent years.

What You Need To Know

  • Democrats are calling on Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself and for Chief Justice John Roberts to act in the wake of reports that Alito’s homes displayed flags associated with Jan. 6 rioters and far-right conspiracist movements in recent years

  • Last week, Alito admitted an upside down American flag flew outside his Virginia home in the days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol

“It’s totally inappropriate. Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas are totally out of control. These individuals continue to detonate the credibility of the United States Supreme Court,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said at a press conference on Thursday morning.

“In the case of Samuel Alito, he definitively needs to recuse himself from any matter pending before the United States Supreme Court that has to do with the Jan. 6 violent insurrection. He should have no part of it," Jeffries added.

Last week, Alito admitted an upside down American flag flew outside his Virginia home in the days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol -- though he blamed the symbolic gesture associated with 2020 election denialists on his wife and a disagreement with a neighbor. Then, the Times reported this week that another Revolutionary War-era flag co-opted by rioters and Christian nationalists was spotted flying on Alito’s New Jersey beach house last summer.

Alito did not return a request for comment through the Supreme Court on Thursday.

After the first report, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., denounced Alito and said he was in discussions with Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., about pushing Supreme Court ethics legislation. The nine justices that make up the court have lifetime appointments and there are few mechanisms to regulate them under existing law. 

“The recourses under the Constitution are very limited,” Durbin said on CNN on Thursday. “I don't think it's a coincidence. In the second instance, I think he's speaking pretty clearly as to his political loyalties.”

Durbin wrote on social media a call for Alito to recuse himself from cases “related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection” on Wednesday and implored Roberts to “see how this is damaging the Court and immediately enact an enforceable code of conduct.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat and crusader for Supreme Court reform, said on MSNBC that action from the Judiciary Committee was forthcoming and that scandals surrounding the court will force Roberts to act.

Justices “have been very reluctant to [testify to Congress] and they wave separation of powers fan dances around to try to prevent us from speaking to them. But I think it has gotten to the point where the Chief Justice is going to have to engage,” Whitehouse said. “And I think you'll see some more action on that shortly out of the Judiciary Committee.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called for the Judiciary Committee and the Democratic-controlled Senate broadly to issue subpoenas and launch investigations into Alito’s handling of cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Another 45 Democratic House members signed a letter to Alito demanding his recusal on Tuesday, prior to the second report. 

But Republicans have largely dismissed concerns or defended Alito. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to entertain a question about the upside down American flag earlier this week, arguing Congress needs “to leave the Supreme Court alone.”

And House Speaker Mike Johnson displays the Revolutionary War-era “Appeal to Heaven” flag in the hallway outside his office next to the flag of his home state, Louisiana. He said he has flown it “for as long as I can remember.”

Johnson, a Republican, told The Associated Press he did not know the flag had come to represent the “Stop the Steal” movement. 

“Never heard that before,” he said.

Some of the Capitol rioters carried the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which shows a green pine tree on a white field and it has surfaced at other far-right events in recent years, including at demonstrations alongside neo-Nazis.

Six schooners outfitted by George Washington to intercept British vessels at sea flew the flag in 1775 as they sailed under his command. It became the maritime flag of Massachusetts in 1776 and remained so until 1971.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., posted a picture of the flag outside his office on Thursday and wrote on social media that he stands with Washington and Alito’s wife “over pearl-clutching libs at the New York Times and Democrats in Congress.”