Exactly how many “Stop the Steal” flags does Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito need to fly over one of his multiple homes before it’s a problem?
Is two enough?
The first one—an upside-down U.S. flag that flew over his house in Alexandria, Virginia, just weeks after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol—was reported by The New York Times just a week ago. He blamed that flag on his wife, claiming he had “no involvement whatsoever” and that his wife was only signaling her distress and support of the movement to overturn an election because a neighbor’s anti-Trump signs made her mad.
But it turns out that’s not the only freak flag the Alito family has flown. According to a second report by the Times, the Alitos also had an “Appeal to Heaven” flag flapping over their New Jersey beach house in the summer of 2023.
What is the Appeal to Heaven flag, you might ask? Created during the American Revolution, in more recent years it has been embraced by far-right religious fanatics, led by activist Dutch Sheets, who see the flag as a symbol of what religion scholar Matthew Taylor described to the Times as “a theological vision of what the United States should be and how it should be governed.”
And how should the United States be governed? Why, according to far-right Christian theology, of course, as these evangelists understand it. Which is why they’ve worked to get Republican leaders to embrace and promote the flag, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who displays the flag outside his office.
This Sheets fellow, according to the Times, has particularly focused on the Supreme Court. You know, the same place where the aforementioned Alito works. Because Alito in particular is exactly the kind of guy who would fly the Appeal to Heaven flag, in Sheets’ estimation.
Turns out, Sheets was right.
As if this flag were not problematic enough, in even more recent years, it has come to also represent Donald Trump’s attempted coup. Like the upside-down American flag, rioters also carried this flag at their insurrection, so it represents not only the campaign to turn America into a far-right Christian nation, but also the campaign to overthrow an election—and democracy itself.
That is the flag that was hoisted above the Alito beach house, and the Supreme Court justice who is currently deciding whether to grant immunity to Trump for his insurrection has yet to offer an explanation for flying it.
According to the Times, “Alito declined to respond to questions about the beach house flag, including what it was intended to convey and how it comported with his obligations as a justice.”
At least this time he’s not blaming his wife.
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