WASHINGTON — A growing number of Democratic lawmakers called on Judge Samuel Alito to recuse himself from cases related to Jan. 6, 2021, and demanded new ethics rules for the Supreme Court following revelations that flags carried by rioters at the Capitol are outside houses were lifted. .
With the Supreme Court just weeks away from ruling on two major cases involving former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the events of Jan. 6, lawmakers said the symbolism of the flags undermines Alito’s neutrality questioned.
In an interview Thursday, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn. who introduced a resolution to censure Alito, said Congress should take the strong position that the judge’s actions were a violation of judicial decorum.
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“He’s not going to resign, he’s not going to recuse himself, and I don’t think Justice Roberts is going to be able to influence him in that regard,” he said, referring to Chief Justice John Roberts. “So the best we can do is give him some kind of scarlet letter.”
The outrage over Alito stems from fears about whether the American public will find the court’s rulings on January 6 and Trump as fair as the November elections approach, with President Joe Biden and Trump locked in a close race. Still, the prospect of legislative action is slim, while Republicans hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives.
Calls for Alito’s removal began after The New York Times reported last week that an upside-down American flag — a symbol associated with 2020 election deniers and used by Trump supporters during the Jan. 6 riot — had been hung outside Alito’s home in Virginia . just over a week after the uprising.
On Wednesday, the Times reported that another provocative symbol was on display at his New Jersey vacation home last summer: the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which is associated with the movement for a more Christian government and was also carried by rioters at the Capitol . .
Alito did not respond to questions about the beach house flag, but he did say the flag was raised at his Virginia home by his wife during a clash with a neighbor. A court spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Judiciary Committee chairman, said Alito should recuse himself from matters related to the 2020 election and its aftermath.
“For the good of our country and the court, Alito must immediately recuse himself from matters related to the 2020 election and the January 6 insurrection,” Durbin said after the latest report. “And the chief justice must see how this is harming the court and immediately implement an enforceable code of conduct.”
So far, Republicans in Congress have not joined the calls for a refusal, although some have said displaying the flags in public shows poor judgment.
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., both questioned the judge’s decision-making and conceded that displaying the inverted flag invited an investigation . .
And Democrats in Congress have used the revelations to build support for legislation that would require Supreme Court justices to adopt a binding code of conduct and create a mechanism to investigate possible violations.
Such a law would go further than the ethics code the court adopted last year, which requires judges to disqualify themselves from ruling on cases in which their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.
Last week, more than three dozen Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter calling on Alito to distance himself from election-related matters. Another group of Democrats including Reps. Adam Schiff of California and Hank Johnson of Georgia, both members of the House Judiciary Committee, announced the creation of a task force to advance the legislation.
On Thursday, Johnson’s office said he and other members of Congress would send a second letter to Alito on Friday demanding he recuse himself in light of the Times’ reporting.
“The public is rapidly losing confidence in the Supreme Court, which is dangerous to our democracy,” Johnson said in an emailed statement. “I fear for the rule of law when it becomes clearer every day that a Supreme Court justice has publicly advocated for a particular candidate and the movement to overturn a lawful election.”
A number of judicial ethics experts and former federal judges have said the flags could be interpreted as political statements that would reflect poorly on the court, which is preparing to issue potentially divisive opinions that could directly impact are on the 2024 elections.
“This not only reflects partisanship, it reflects the impunity of this court,” said Nancy Gertner, a lecturer at Harvard Law School and a former federal judge. “The public’s concerns about their partisanship don’t seem to matter to them.”
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