Pirates of the Legislation
It’s worse than we thought. Alito must resign.
Yesterday, we learned that Justice Alito flew an insurrectionist flag over his residence for three days between the January 6 insurrection and Joe Biden’s inauguration. Standing alone, that lapse of ethics and shocking display of disloyalty to the Constitution required recusal and an impeachment investigation, at the very least.
Today, the NYTimes reported that Justice Alito flew a “Pine Tree” flag a.k.a. an “Appeal to Heaven” flag over his beach house. Per the Times, the Pine Tree flag
is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms.
In other words, the Pine Tree flag represents a MAGA trifecta: Support for Trump, insurrection, and Christian nationalism. See NYTimes, Another Provocative Flag Was Flown at Another Alito Home. (This article is accessible to all.) The photos showing the Pine Tree flag over the Alito beach house were taken over three months in 2023.
Justice Alito’s credibility is compromised beyond repair. Every day he serves as a sitting Supreme Court justice, he further erodes the court's rapidly diminishing credibility.
Contrary to the original story about the “Stop the Steal” flag where Alito blamed his wife, the justice has refused to provide a response to the Times. The Supreme Court’s press relations office also refused comment.
Out of loyalty to the Constitution, regard for the Court, and respect for the American people, Alito should resign. Anything less will perpetuate the open wound on the Court’s legitimacy.
There is also a role for Justice Roberts and the associate justices in addressing Alito’s ethical violations.
Roberts should call for investigation by the Judicial Conference. He should assure the American people that the Court is, in fact, “calling balls and strikes” for democracy rather than serving as a cheerleader for the partisan and religious agenda of the MAGA movement.
The associate justices should declare in their opinions, concurrences, and dissents that Justice Alito’s continued consideration of matters relating to Trump is a violation of the Supreme Court Code of Ethics.
Democrats in the Senate must also lead on this issue. To date, leadership in the Senate and on the Judiciary Committee have responded with a collective yawn. That is a perplexing response that reflects the insular politics of cynicism that infects Congress. Enough!
The stories about Alito’s flags are not “gotcha” journalism run amok. Alito is signaling his partisan allegiance and Christian nationalism. As I wrote yesterday, we should take him at his word. If we do not, he will continue to vote for outcomes and write opinions that are antithetical to the liberties guaranteed in the Constitution.
Apart from demanding that the Court, Congress, and the media work to secure Alito’s resignation or impeachment, what can we do?
On Wednesday, the Biden Administration announced that it had reached the milestone of appointing 200 federal judges. See WhiteHouse.gov, Statement from President Joe Biden on Confirming 200 Federal Judges. In his announcement, President Biden noted that 64% of his appointments were women and that 62% were to people color.
Amidst the disturbing revelations of Alito’s insurrectionist allegiance, President Biden wrote the following about his 200 judicial appointments:
Judges matter.
These men and women have the power to uphold basic rights or to roll them back.
They hear cases that decide whether women have the freedom to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions; whether Americans have the freedom to cast their ballots; whether workers have the freedom to unionize and make a living wage for their families; and whether children have the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water.
There are many issues that compel us to vote for Joe Biden. Reforming the Supreme Court just moved up in urgency and importance. We must adopt an enforceable code of ethics and enlarge the Court—both of which can be accomplished with majority votes in Congress and the signature of the president. Elect Joe Biden to reform the Court.
[Robert B. Hubbell newsletter]
