Following a recent report showing a U.S. flag was displayed upside down outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito‘s Alexandria, Virginia, house two weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Senate Democrats are in disagreement about what to do about the justice.
Alito has been criticized by members from both parties, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), over the display, which happened just days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Historically, the upside-down flag has been a symbol of distress for the country, but it has recently become associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement, which questions the results of the 2020 election. Alito was quick to shift the blame to his wife, saying Martha-Ann Alito briefly flew the flag “in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
While united in their condemnation of what they perceive to be Justice Alito’s failure to maintain impartiality, Democrats are split on how to address the incident.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is one of the Democrats eager to hold a hearing to investigate Alito. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has echoed his calls for further investigation. Another member of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), told MSNBC last week that the “only way to hold [the Supreme Court] accountable is to hold a hearing in the Judiciary [Committee].”
Their colleague, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL), is not on the same page.
“I don’t think there’s much to be gained with a hearing at this point,” Durbin said Monday. “I think he should recuse himself from cases involving Trump and his administration.”
Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), a freshman on the Judiciary Committee, agreed with Durbin, saying “I don’t see a so-called investigation going anywhere. It is what it is.”
Democrats are uniting around calls for Alito to recuse himself from cases related to Jan. 6, citing his seeming connection to the event. HuffPost reported that 45 House Democrats are echoing Durbin’s call for the justice to recuse himself from several key Trump election cases.
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One case could eliminate convictions for many defendants implicated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot questioning the results of the 2020 election. Another case considers Trump’s claims for total immunity from prosecution relating to his Jan. 6 election subversion case.
This is not the first time Democrats have urged a conservative justice to recuse himself from a case. In January, House Democrats demanded Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recuse himself from a case challenging Trump’s eligibility on the Colorado primary ballot. The lawmakers claimed Thomas’s wife’s “bias towards Trump” rendered the justice unable to consider the case impartially.