In letters to members of Congress on Wednesday, Justice Samuel Alito rejected calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving former President Donald Trump and Jan. 6 defendants because of the controversy over flags that flew over his homes.
Alito said his wife was responsible for flying an upside-down American flag over his home in 2021 and an "Appeal to Heaven" flag at his New Jersey beach house last year. Neither incident merits his recusal, he wrote.
Read the letters here and here.
The New York Times reported earlier in May that the upside-down flag, a symbol associated with Trump's false claims of election fraud, was displayed outside Alito's home on Jan. 17, 2021, days after Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to prevent certification of Democrat Joe Biden's presidential election victory. Dozens of the pro-Trump rioters were carrying similarly inverted flags and chanting slogans like "Stop the Steal."
The report raised concerns about Alito's impartiality as the court considers two major cases related to the Capitol attack, including charges faced by the rioters and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges.
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Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on Alito last week to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
"Flying an upside-down American flag — a symbol of the so-called 'Stop the Steal' movement — clearly creates the appearance of bias," Durbin said in a statement.
The "Appeal to Heaven" flag has origins dating to the Revolutionary War, but is now associated with Christian nationalism and efforts to overturn Biden's 2020 election win. The flag was also carried by Jan. 6 rioters at the U.S. Capitol.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.