Former neighbor disputes Alito’s explanation of upside-down U.S. flag flying at his home

Geoff Bennett:

A former neighbor of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said that, in her words, at worst, he's just outright lying about his account of a neighborhood dispute that led to hoisting an upside-down American flag at his Virginia home.

The inverted flag is associated with the effort to overturn President Biden's 2020 election win. Justice Alito has been in the spotlight over flying controversial flags at his homes, as first revealed by reporting from The New York Times.

Our Lisa Desjardins joins us now.

So, Lisa, what's new here in this account?

Lisa Desjardins:

Some important details about the timeline are new, but I also want to talk about why this matters, of course.

Justice Alito is currently sitting on two cases about January 6, one about former President Trump's involvement in January 6. These cases, of course, could determine a lot about our future here. And, also, Justice Alito has defended himself as saying his wife hoisted the flag. He said he will not recuse himself. It is solely up to him, by the way.

And he's used this burden of proof. He has said that, under the Supreme Court's ethics code, what matters is if someone who is impartial, who is able to look at all of the circumstances involved, if they think that he could be fair, then he should not recuse.

So the circumstances matter, because Justice Alito himself said they would. Now, here's how he described what happened in a letter to Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin.

He wrote:

"A house on the street displayed a sign attacking my wife personally, and a man berated her in my presence using foul language, including what I regard as the vilest epithet that can be addressed to a woman."

Now, a couple of details in this. He's saying that's why his wife flew this flag, which can be a sign of distress. We know now from the neighbor who was involved that it was actually the woman who used that word about other women. And she says that the timeline was completely wrong.

I want to take us through that timeline now, because it's important first. We started January 6. As you say, that is when we saw upside-down flags flying as the Stop the Steal movement attacked the Capitol, moved inside to try and stop the presidential election count. Soon after that, Alito's neighbors put up a sign that said, "You are complicit."

They say it wasn't just about him, but about people in general. Alito's family took that as being about them.

January 17 is when we know an upside-down flag was flying at the Alito home, according to The New York Times. Now, the important piece here is Alito said, well, that was flying because of the confrontation. But now we know there is evidence that February 15 is actually when that confrontation happened, after that upside-down flag had been flying.

Here's what the neighbor said to CNN.

Emily Baden, Neighbor of Justice Samuel Alito: At best, he's mistaken, but, at worst, he's just outright lying. The interaction that happened on February 15 is the one that they're using as an excuse for why they flew the flag.

And I really want to hammer home the fact that that happened on February 15, and their flag went up two or three weeks before that.

Lisa Desjardins:

So, the question is — this sounds like it's a minor thing about the timeline, but it's a very big deal over exactly why this flag that was about something that attacked our democracy was flying over a Supreme Court justice's home.

Geoff Bennett:

So, Lisa what role does Congress have in all of this? Because there are questions about whether or how Congress could ever impose a tougher code of ethics on the Supreme Court.

There are questions about the Senate Judiciary Committee. Will they hold a hearing? Will they call Justice Alito or Chief Justice John Roberts to the Hill to account for all of this? Walk us through all of that.

Lisa Desjardins:

There are very loud calls among Democrats, including some on the Judiciary Committee, not just to call the justice, but to perhaps subpoena him.

I spoke with the head of that committee, Dick Durbin, this week. And he said the problem is they don't have that power. Under the rules of the U.S. Senate right now that was agreed to in this closely divided Senate, in order to issue a subpoena, a committee can do it by majority vote, but they can't take any action unless at least two Republicans come to that meeting.

So the thinking is, Republicans could simply boycott that meeting. It wouldn't happen. They cannot issue subpoena. They cannot enforce it on the floor, which would also take 60 votes. It's important because constitutional check and balances aren't the question here.

It's Senate rules that are preventing this kind of oversight. Now, they could have a hearing they could call other people. Dick Durbin has said he's doesn't think there would be much reason to that to do that at this point. But he has said he thinks that Alito should recuse. And here's what Durbin said this week on the Senate floor.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL):

Displaying the upside-down American flag and Appeal to Heaven flag creates the appearance that Justice Alito has already aligned himself with the Stop the Steal campaign. He cannot credibly claim to be an umpire calling balls and strikes in these cases.

Lisa Desjardins:

Durbin's committee is working on an investigation, not just of Alito, but of all Supreme Court justices. And I'm told they had hoped to release it soon.

But all of this with Alito means now there's new things to investigate, and they don't know when they will release it.

Geoff Bennett:

Lisa Desjardins, thanks so much.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.