NYT Scoop: Alito Is an ‘Insurrectionist’
The Supreme Court justice has faced attacks over a couple of flag displays at his homes.
Democrats need to delegitimize the Supreme Court so they can eventually pack it with loyal leftists. Keep that in mind every time they attack Clarence Thomas over a vacation or Samuel Alito over a flag.
The latter justice has been the subject of leftist consternation for the last week or so, ever since The New York Times put a team of crack journalists on the case of a couple of flags flown by the Alito family.
First up was a breathless story drawing a straight line from Justice Alito to January 6. “At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display,” read the Times headline, followed by the teaser, “An upside-down flag, adopted by Trump supporters contesting the Biden victory, flew over the justice’s front lawn as the Supreme Court was considering an election case.”
The story didn’t use the word “insurrectionists” (or, as Joe Biden recently called them, “erectionists”), but the Times insists the connection was clear: “The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before.”
Never mind that Alito was on the losing side of that election case, meaning the flag had no bearing on the outcome of the case.
More importantly, “I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to The Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
Shannon Bream of Fox News shares what the Times didn’t tell you:
I spoke directly with Justice Alito about the flag story in the NYT. In addition to what’s in the story, he told me a neighbor on their street had a “F*** Trump” sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in Jan 21. Mrs. Alito brought this up with the neighbor. According to Justice Alito, things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan 6th attacks.
So, where did the “Stop the Steal” connection come from? An “expert” cited by the Times called an upside-down flag “the equivalent of putting a ‘Stop the Steal’ sign in your yard.”
Oh, so it’s a dog whistle for “experts.”
The truth is that an upside-down flag has long been understood as a sign of distress.
A few days later, the Times put three journalists on another story about a “provocative flag” flown by the Alitos: “The justice’s beach house displayed an ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag, a symbol carried on Jan. 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government.” The Times spends much of its word count in both articles discussing ethics rules for jurists, though none of those rules apply to spouses.
This flag appeared at the Long Beach Island house in 2023, but it, too, sounded the same dog whistle for “Stop the Steal.”
Senator Dick Durbin called it part of “the Court’s ongoing ethical crisis.” Senator Mazie Hirono wailed, “We have an out-of-control Supreme Court majority.” Clearly, the real game here is to delegitimize the Court. Senator Jeff Merkley literally said it: “Frustration with the Court in the sense that it is illegitimate is extremely high.”
The long-term objective is delegitimizing the Court, but the short-term aim is winning a couple of cases. “Alito must recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection,” Durbin insisted. He didn’t say it, but these hit pieces are also retribution for Alito having written the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
The Democrats attempt to smear and discredit every originalist, and they have been doing so since Ted Kennedy made a sick sport out of “borking” nominees to the bench. Alito was the victim of that same vile tactic in 2006, which left Mrs. Alito in tears at the time.
Furthermore, call me crazy, but it’s pretty rich for leftists to be outraged about flags. They burn the American flag, for one thing, in addition to kneeling instead of saluting it during the national anthem. Spare me the outrage over flying it upside down.
They also plaster rainbow flags over almost literally everything (including the American flag) for large parts of the year, especially “Pride Month,” which — I appeal to heaven! — starts in a few days. Last year in June, Joe Biden flew the garish transgender flag from the White House itself — while some dude flashed his prosthetic breasts on the lawn, I might add. Biden’s State Department flies the rainbow flag at its facilities all over the world (except in Muslim countries).
“The Constitution provides that the government shall not establish any official religion,” opined Senator Brian Schatz, but the rainbow flag is arguably a symbol of the Left’s state religion. But the Times reporters have their knickers in a twist over a Revolutionary-era flag.
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag, by the way, originates with an important American named George Washington. Maybe the Times reporters have heard of him. He specifically commissioned it in 1775, and it was designed by his personal secretary, Colonel Joseph Reed. In a sense, it was the symbol of a real insurrection — the one against the British tyrants who overtaxed and tried to disarm American colonists. Come to think of it, that sounds familiar…
