If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that the wife of conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito loves flags.
He apparently loves the stuff. She’s the one he pointed the finger at after The New York Times reported on an upside-down American flag — a sign of distress co-opted by Jan. 6 insurrectionists — hanging outside the judge’s house after the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol .
Alito said his wife also hung an “Appeal to Heaven” flag — another symbol adopted by Jan. 6 rioters and Christian nationalists — outside their New Jersey vacation home.
“My wife likes flags flying” is Alito’s excuse for a pro-insurrection symbol
After Democratic lawmakers called on Alito to recuse himself from issues surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection, he wrote: “My wife loves flying flags. I am not. My wife was solely responsible for installing flagpoles in our home and holiday home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years.”
Cool! Leaving aside the hope that Martha-Ann Alito also loves the underside of the bus her husband threw her under, I wonder if conservative adherents of Alito’s flag philosophy would be as okay with other Supreme Court justices throwing their own flags would hoist?
Would it also be okay for a liberal justice to fly a Black Lives Matter flag?
For example, suppose a Fox News reporter saw a Black Lives Matter flag flying outside the home of liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
I guess people at that network, as well as social media-thirsty Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sen. JD Vance, and convicted felon/GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, would be fine with that, right?
Trump the criminal: Guilty Trump’s press conference was a disaster. Republicans must replace him quickly.
They wouldn’t make a peep. After all, we must respect our right to fly flags.
And if someone on the right objected and Jackson explained that her husband is a big fan of flags and he’s the one who put them up, that would make everything okay, scandal-wise, right?
How about a Puerto Rican flag that symbolizes resistance?
Suppose liberal judge Sonia Sotomayor, whose parents were from Puerto Rico, had a black Puerto Rican flag — a symbol of defiance and sadness — hanging in front of her vacation home. That would all be good, right?
And maybe someone reported it and explained that a relative who was staying with her had put it up and, like Alito with his wife, couldn’t get the relative to remove it.
I’m sure Fox News would be as cool as a cucumber about a story like that.
Opinion Warnings: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on important issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don’t have the app? Download it for free from your app store.
An upside-down American flag in a liberal justice’s yard? The right would take action.
Let’s use a hypothesis that’s more direct: It’s 2016 and Trump has just been elected president. A neighbor shows a New York Times reporter a photo of an upside-down American flag flying outside the home of liberal judge Elena Kagan. Radical liberal groups across America had recently adopted the inverted American flag to express their violent opposition to the new president.
Would Republicans let that go without blinking? Would the right-wing media ecosystem quietly roll its eyes and move on?
No, anyone on the right would be apoplectic. The Fox News headquarters would spontaneously catch fire in the ensuing anger.
But with Alito and his rebellious wife and her unwavering enthusiasm, that is no problem.
Patriotic Bridges: Gov. Ron DeSantis is courageously saving Florida residents from exposure to unpatriotic bridges
Alito’s flags are important. They represent a dark undercurrent in our politics.
After the flag stories emerged, Democratic senators asked Chief Justice John Roberts to meet with them to discuss the scandal.
Roberts said no. Nothing to see here.
But there’s definitely something to see here, folks. And if a liberal justice were to raise any ideological flags, Republicans would certainly see the problem clearly.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.
You can read a variety of opinions from our board of contributors and other writers on the Opinions front page on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily opinion newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alito’s flag should be a bigger scandal. What if a liberal did it?
