Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from cases involving former President Donald Trump and Jan. 6 defendants because of two flags associated with the former president's push to overturn the 2020 election that flew outside of his homes.
In letters to members of Congress on Wednesday, Alito says his wife was responsible for flying an upside down flag over his home in 2021 -- used as a symbol of the "Stop the Steal" movement -- and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag -- which dates back to the Revolutionary War but in recent years has become associated with Christian nationalism and support of Trump -- at his New Jersey beach house last year.
Neither incident merits his recusal, he wrote. News of the flags was first reported by The New York Times.
He previously said the inverted American flag was flown by his wife amid a dispute with a neighbor over political yard signs, and he had no part in it. He previously did not offer an explanation for the "Appeal to Heaven" flag.
The letters from Alito come after Democrats in the House and Senate called for his recusal from the cases involving Trump and Jan. 6 defendants. Last week, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the panel who chairs its subcommittee on federal courts, sent a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts asking for a meeting and urging him to take steps to ensure Alito's recusal.
"In considering whether [flying the upside down flag] requires recusal, an unbiased and reasonable person would take into account the following facts," Alito wrote in the letter to Sens. Durbin and Whitehouse on Wednesday. "As I have stated publicly, I had nothing whatsoever to do with the flying of that flag. I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention. As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused."
"My wife and I own our Virginia home jointly. She therefore has the legal right to use the property as she sees fit, and there were no additional steps that I could have taken to have the flag taken down more promptly," he continued, later adding that his wife "is a private citizen who possesses the same First Amendment, rights as every other American. She makes her own decisions, and I have always respected her right to do so."
Of the "Appeal to Heaven" flag, Alito wrote: "I recall that my wife did fly that flag for some period of time, but I do not remember how long it flew. And what is most relevant here, I had no involvement in the decision to fly that flag."
He went on to say that his wife "is fond of flying flags," while he is not, and said that he was "not familiar" with the flag, nor its connection to the "Stop the Steal" movement -- and his wife similarly unaware of any deeper meaning.
He went on to charge that those calling for his recusal are "motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases."
"As I said in reference to the other flag event, my wife is an independently minded private citizen," he wrote in closing. "She makes her own decisions, and I honor her right to do so. Our vacation home was purchased with money she inherited from her parents and is titled in her name. It is a place, away from Washington, where she should be able to relax. 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 this event does not meet the applicable standard for recusal. I am therefore duty-bound to reject your recusal request."
The explanation from Alito did not appear to satisfy his critics in the Democratic Party, though it's unclear what course of action they might take in response. Just hours after Alito released his statement, a group of 19 House Democrats signed on to a letter urging Chief Justice Roberts to put pressure on Alito to recuse himself.
"Justice Alito claims that the Jan 6 flags outside his homes were displayed at his wife’s insistence," California Rep. Adam Schiff, who is running for U.S. Senate, wrote on social media. "Maybe so. But that is not the issue. It's his insistence that he sit on cases where his impartiality is so plainly at issue. It's his ethical judgment in question, not hers."
"Sad, but not surprising—Alito’s refusal to recuse continues to defy & defile norms of decency & ethics," Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal wrote in a post of his own. "His court wrecking sullies & squanders the entire judiciary’s credibility. Time for Roberts to show some spine & step into the breach."
"Instead of taking responsibility, he threw the blame at his wife. The Supreme Court is destroying its own credibility and legitimacy," Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain and The Associated Press contribted to this report.