Democrats demand Alito recuse himself from Trump, Jan 6 cases, citing impartiality concerns over flag scandal

Senate Democrats are demanding that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito recuse himself from certain cases and have called for a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts to discuss ethics in the court after news broke that Mr Alito had flown flags used by Capitol riot participants.

Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin requested a meeting with Mr Roberts to discuss their concerns about Mr Alito’s impartiality, CBS News reports.

Reports in The New York Times and other outlets revealed that Mr Alito had previously flown an «Appeal to Heaven» flag outside his New Jersey vacation home in the summer of 2023.

In 2021, shortly after Joe Biden took office, Mr Alito flew an upside down American flag at his home in Virginia. Under US flag code, a flag is never to be flown inverted “except as a signal of dire distress in instance of extreme danger to life or property.”

Both inverted American flags and «Appeal to Heaven» flags were carried by individuals participating in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol in 2021.

The «Appeal to Heaven» flag is a Revolutionary War-era standard that some conservatives have co-opted to express their belief that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.

Mr Durbin and Mr Whitehouse sent the chief justice a letter on Friday asking him to push Mr Alito to recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 presidential election and the Capitol riot.

“By displaying the upside-down and ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flags outside his homes, Justice Alito actively engaged in political activity, failed to avoid the appearance of impropriety, and failed to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary,” they said in their letter. “His