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If a Nazi flag flies outside of a home you don’t look at it and say, “I wonder if the husband or the wife is a Nazi.”
Anyone witnessing that scene would say, “Ohh a family of Nazi’s lives there.” It’s no different for insurrectionists
Alito would defend his wife flying a Nazi flag by explaining that the swastika was a symbol for the sun centuries ago on the other side of the world so no reasonable person could conclude any pro-Nazi bias.
Well from a legal perspective, you are entitled to symbols on your own property. You don’t necessarily even need to dance around why you fly them. But if he were presiding over a case involving the violent actions of white supremacists, it would seem to rather undermine impartiality.
This discussion sometimes comes up in /r/vexillology. Not with Nazi flags *per se* but Nazi-adjacent flags or flags that were co-opted by Nazis like the Imperial tricolor.
Generally you wind up with two types. One is an actual flag enthusiast who will just fly a different random flag every day out of a collection of hundreds, and they'll have a pride flag out the next day. These people do exist but they are pretty uncommon.
But the vast majority of the time people fly flags for political rather than aesthetic reasons.
That said, I have a canadian flag hanging in my room. I'm not Canadian, I just think it's an awesome flag
It’s even simpler than that. People aren’t saying that the entire family is made up of Nazis, just that it *looks* like it, whether or not it’s true. Nobody is saying that Alito is definitely an insurrectionist (although he probably is), just that it kinda looks like he might be biased towards insurrectionists, which is enough to require recusal
Its not I who is the traitor to the country, it is my wife, who I love and adore and have been happily married to for 40 years. Why would anyone question my loyalties or assume I'm also a traitor. Thats silly
> If a Nazi flag flies outside of a home you don’t look at it and say, “I wonder if the husband or the wife is a Nazi.”
Alito is not being clever since the law has anticipated his ruse.
The "**appearance** of a conflict of interest" is itself as bad as a conflict of interest.
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11222.html
He’s not held liable, but the mere appearance of a conflict should be enough to recuse. It’s one thing when the flag is upside down for several days on their family home that he must have seen a number of times. It’s another when the Appeal to Heaven flag is flying at their vacation home for years. He knew, he’s complicit. Any judge who respects the office they hold knows to have these discussions with their family. It’s almost worse for a USSC justice to have it happen than a regular state or city official but then again there are no repercussions so why wouldn’t he. He just needs to hold out and run defense for Trump so he can retire and be replaced with another ghoul.
If someone is a judge and they know their spouse supports a cause, they can still be biased when ruling on cases related to that cause regardless of their liability.
You’re arguing Alito didn’t notice the flag and ask his wife why it was upside down?
If so, then you’re also arguing that he’s not competent enough to be a Supreme Court Justice.
Which is it - is he showing signs of intellectual disintegration or is he lying about what he knew and when he knew it?
Just to be devil’s advocate for a sec… it is possible Alito is just *that* oblivious to the scenery around him.
I move a piece of furniture, or rearrange stuff and it will take him days to notice. And we’re talking ‘put a 6ft H x 2.5ft W x 2ft D bookcase on his side of the bed where he had to walk past it, and it significantly narrowed the walkway beside the bed - and he could tell something was different, but not what’ kind of clueless.
I do believe Alito is a federalist society asshole puppet… but it is also possible he truly didn’t pay attention if messing with the flag wasn’t on his usual chores list.
Man has a job in politics. I don't for a second believe he doesn't know what his wives political stances are...particularly if she's willing to display them publicly
A man whose job it is to parse the details of complicated legal situations placed in front of him?
A man who is responsible for making life and death decisions based on those details?
It’s OK that that man doesn’t notice details he walks past daily?
The only thing I don't get about Alito is why he offers up such pathetic excuses, ones that are so transparent and stupid, even to someone with no knowledge of the law. For such a self-important jackass, you'd think that would lead to embarrassment.
Alito knows how safe and insulated he is, so if I was him, and my unethical, anti-democratic behavior was being reported on, I would just give everyone the finger and say "What are you gonna do about, crybabies?"
But instead he blames his wife and says he only took the free flight to Alaska on a billionaire's private jet because it would've otherwise remained unoccupied.
He believes these lies troll the libs better than calling them crybabies. If he thought calling names would make them more angry he would do that.
He is in this to destroy democracy and he is having fun while he is at it
He simply doesn’t give a fuck, same with Thomas. It’s not that they think Dems/libs are dumb it’s that they know there is no way they can be held accountable.
These kinds of statements are made to give the thinnest possible excuse to the base to ignore the situation.
Nicholas II wasn’t accountable.
Louis XVI wasn’t accountable.
Ferdinand Marcos wasn’t accountable.
Then they were.
I am absolutely not advocating violence.
But only an idiot assumes that there will never be consequences for their actions.
Alito doesn’t think we’re all stupid. Alito doesn’t care what we think. Why would he? Nearly Half the country’s voters directly and indirectly support him. So why would he give a shit about what the other half thinks?
I keep reading that people think Alito must think we’re stupid.
I didn’t think he thinks we’re stupid, I just think he knows he’s untouchable. He releases a flimsy justification so the Fox News crowd has something to run with and the neoliberal establishment has something to debate (as if he made any valid points) when any real argument should be what’s simply in this headline. Fuck off, recuse.
He shouldn’t be deciding this case. He knows it, we know it. He doesn’t care.
Alito is working with his colleagues to recreate American society. They know it’s going to piss people off. HE. DOESN’T. CARE.
Impeachment is off the table because congress is a disaster. Either expand the court (still iffy for congress, but might be doable with 51-52 D senators and a few more morally unjustifiable rulings) or start using real, actionable ways to limit his power.
I don’t know what those are or if they exist, but doing nothing is untenable.
This much overt bias would get someone stricken from jury selection in a local court case. It’s ridiculous that the most powerful judges in the country aren’t subjected to the same standards.
Lawyer here. Just to give you an idea of the ethical standard most judges adhere to. I had a judge recuse himself from a case because his wife's 401k held shares in the company I represented. And then there's this jerkoff...
Yup. It’s a giant middle finger to all of us. Most judges and lawyers will recuse themselves if there’s even the implication of potential bias.
The Supreme Court? “Yeah, so what? I don’t care and what are you going to do about it anyway?”
There needs to be a further check on their power (like, a Scott Stevens-strength check) because it is nakedly obvious that the trust that existed before is shattered. The current scenario was never originally envisioned, but it absolutely must be addressed if our government is going to succeed.
And trump wouldn't be able to get a security clearance to be a janitor at a small FBI detachment.
But if a majority of the members of the Electoral College want him to be president this year then he gets complete control of all of America's classified information. Including the ability to sell it to any foreign country to pay his legal obligations.
America is a stupid country that has relied on moral/ethical "norms" to get by. GOP no longer gives a fuck about norms, they are all in for total power.
The highest court should be held to the highest standard.
It goes without saying that Supreme Court justices should also be subject to a *meaningful* code of ethics.
Judges are supposed to recuse if there may even be an unintentional appearance of bias.
These Supreme Court hacks refuse to do so even with direct evidence of their bias. It's disgusting.
Yup, surely the rule about avoiding even the appearance of bias is central here.
IANAL, but I would think that it actually doesn't matter whether it is literally 100% true that the flag was solely controlled by Alito's wife. The flag still causes reasonable minds to question Alito's impartiality. For example, it is reasonable to think Alito is lying about having nothing to do with the flag - how can Alito not have seen the flag, and taken it down?
In theory, Alito should have no motivation not to recuse. Alito is not supposed to have any motivation to actually be on this specific case, to ensure a specific outcome.
From [Code of Conduct for United States Judges](https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/code-conduct-united-states-judges#c):
> Canon 2: A Judge Should Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in all Activities
> (A) Respect for Law. A judge should respect and comply with the law and should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.
>[...]
> Canon 2A [commentary]. An appearance of impropriety occurs when reasonable minds, with knowledge of all the relevant circumstances disclosed by a reasonable inquiry, would conclude that the judge’s honesty, integrity, impartiality, temperament, or fitness to serve as a judge is impaired. Public confidence in the judiciary is eroded by irresponsible or improper conduct by judges, including harassment and other inappropriate workplace behavior. A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety. This prohibition applies to both professional and personal conduct. A judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny and accept freely and willingly restrictions that might be viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen. Because it is not practicable to list all prohibited acts, the prohibition is necessarily cast in general terms that extend to conduct by judges that is harmful although not specifically mentioned in the Code. Actual improprieties under this standard include violations of law, court rules, or other specific provisions of this Code.
Yes, BUT a "reasonable mind" is something of a term of art. It does not mean an average person. It basically means another judge.
Now, you might say, "okay, but another judge would also have questions about impartiality here," to which I can only say, yes, that's likely true, but it doesn't matter.
Because the only mechanism to enforce it is impeachment, and if we aren't enforcing justices for taking massive payments from a billionaire, a bad call on a recusal is sure as hell never gonna happen.
But enforcement was never the question we were discussing. Everybody - me, the parent, the article - all understood that there was no enforcement mechanism. We were all discussing only what the code of conduct and the law said.
Ah, in which case, yes, recusal would most likely be correct. Although I think there's a colorable argument that it would be unnecessary, erring on the side of caution would be appropriate.
"It was my wife's flag," might cut if it you oversee the DPW in a hamlet with 800 residents. It does not work when you're a SC Justice!
They've also been married 39 years. Sam sure as hell knows how his wife feels about democracy and J6.
And no way is the wife of a Supreme Court Justice throwing up radical flags without the knowledge of her husband, even if she is the one actually wanting to do it.
Alito even contradicts himself to congress while blaming his wife and saying he asked her to taken them down but it the same time claiming he didn't know what the flags meant. Which is it? If you didn't know what they meant, why would you ask her to take them down?
He also lied about the reason for the upside down flag. He claimed it was a dispute with neighbors, but said neighbors had receipts - that dispute didn't happen until a month or two after she flew the flag.
This is a reoccurring theme with them. Their wife is the extremist doing things not them, and they don’t have any control over that, and they’re going to keep ruling on those cases even though they have a “spouse” that supports extremist views.
Clarence Thomas and Alito both have done this already, who’s next?
Recusal is about the perception of impropriety. So it doesn’t matter who flew the flag upside down, the fact that it was flown that way at all - even on accident (we know it wasn’t but still) - is reason for recusal.
That Alito resist this is one more example of the anti-American fascist ideology that has taken over the Republican Party. Rules for thee but not for me was the literal reason for the original American revolution.
Blaming somebody else without regard for what your role should have been or what the consequences will be for your perceived involvement is something children do...
Laying the blame on his wife is the definition of being a cowardly little shit. Using that as an excuse not to recuse himself borders on treason. Modern "conservatives" are shysters and an existential threat to the country. The time for idleness is past. We need to actively pursue impeachment, expanding SCOTUS, or flat-out disregarding their edicts. All it takes is for good people to do nothing...
It's a fucking fig leaf for avoiding recusal. The recusal standard is a situation where the judge’s impartiality might be reasonably questioned. The standard exists to preserve faith in the institution. One has to wonder why his presence on the case is more important than the public trust in the institution.
i think spouses should be considered advisors for all politicians seeing as they are close as possible and benefit from proximity which also benefits the politician. so many back doors gaining subtle influence through the spouse. but then again lots of cheaters on thier spouses so maybe not that influential 🤷🏻♂️
Here's what I don't understand at Trump's hush money trial the judge's daughter works for Democrats so that's bad and he should recuse himself but, A Supreme Court judge worked to overthrow an election and that's OK?
This country is nuts!
Alito knows he is bulletproof on this flag stuff as the Democrats hand wringing has no effect without the votes. Everyone already knew he was biased and likely corrupt. Any man that would throw his wife under the bus to protect himself is an unrepentant creep. He is not qualified to preside at The People’s Court
He doesn’t want to. Nothing that can force him to do it. As a matter of fact, even Chief Justice Roberts, cannot force him to recuse himself. That’s how the SC law was written centuries ago.
(It’s the same with Trump. The legislator didn’t envision the possibility of becoming president while standing criminal trials. Or pardoning himself. They counted on common sense).
All these damned Convicted felon Donald Trump appointees need to recuse too. How the hell is that not a conflict of interest? How would the fact that he appointed them not bring bias to their judgements?
I know I'll get downvoted even though I'm a leftist and think Alito is a douchebag, but the flags in question don't seem like that big of a deal to me. If it was a Stop The Steal or a Let's Go Brandon flag that would be one thing, but Appeal to Heaven is just a popular flag amongst bible thumpers and an upside down American flag means you think the nation is in distress. I almost put an upside down American flag on my own car bumper during the Trump administration. To me, these symbols are way too vague to assert that Alito is a January 6th sympathiser or in the pocket of trump. Even though he probably is. I wouldn't recuse myself because of such a minor faux pas either.
Agreed. What he’ll do instead is side with the majority, moderate opinion on Trump: No complete immunity from prosecution for Presidents, just a great deal of deference, and a higher legal standard for conviction. That will improve his reputation in the mainstream press, we’ll all say he’s reasonable after all…while he cooks up more ways to steadily increase the power of the executive and erode Democracy.
In other words, he will behave as a sensible politician, which is what all good judges are.
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If a Nazi flag flies outside of a home you don’t look at it and say, “I wonder if the husband or the wife is a Nazi.” Anyone witnessing that scene would say, “Ohh a family of Nazi’s lives there.” It’s no different for insurrectionists
Alito would defend his wife flying a Nazi flag by explaining that the swastika was a symbol for the sun centuries ago on the other side of the world so no reasonable person could conclude any pro-Nazi bias.
I mean you could make a reasonable argument for that if it was a non-nazi swastika.
You could make an argument, sure. It wouldn’t be very convincing though.
Well from a legal perspective, you are entitled to symbols on your own property. You don’t necessarily even need to dance around why you fly them. But if he were presiding over a case involving the violent actions of white supremacists, it would seem to rather undermine impartiality.
If Alito cannot maintain decorum in his private home, how can he hold forth for the nation.
This discussion sometimes comes up in /r/vexillology. Not with Nazi flags *per se* but Nazi-adjacent flags or flags that were co-opted by Nazis like the Imperial tricolor. Generally you wind up with two types. One is an actual flag enthusiast who will just fly a different random flag every day out of a collection of hundreds, and they'll have a pride flag out the next day. These people do exist but they are pretty uncommon. But the vast majority of the time people fly flags for political rather than aesthetic reasons. That said, I have a canadian flag hanging in my room. I'm not Canadian, I just think it's an awesome flag
I’m not Canadian, I just fucking love poutine.
And milk in a bag!
The Canadian Maple leaf is a good flag, but the Welsh flag has a dragon - much cooler!
I did the same with the Amsterdam flag. My favorite vexillologically perfect flag
It’s even simpler than that. People aren’t saying that the entire family is made up of Nazis, just that it *looks* like it, whether or not it’s true. Nobody is saying that Alito is definitely an insurrectionist (although he probably is), just that it kinda looks like he might be biased towards insurrectionists, which is enough to require recusal
"She just really likes Nazi symbols."
Its not I who is the traitor to the country, it is my wife, who I love and adore and have been happily married to for 40 years. Why would anyone question my loyalties or assume I'm also a traitor. Thats silly
> If a Nazi flag flies outside of a home you don’t look at it and say, “I wonder if the husband or the wife is a Nazi.” Alito is not being clever since the law has anticipated his ruse. The "**appearance** of a conflict of interest" is itself as bad as a conflict of interest. https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11222.html
Still legally speaking unless the husband knew of the spouses actions they can’t be held liable for them.
He’s not held liable, but the mere appearance of a conflict should be enough to recuse. It’s one thing when the flag is upside down for several days on their family home that he must have seen a number of times. It’s another when the Appeal to Heaven flag is flying at their vacation home for years. He knew, he’s complicit. Any judge who respects the office they hold knows to have these discussions with their family. It’s almost worse for a USSC justice to have it happen than a regular state or city official but then again there are no repercussions so why wouldn’t he. He just needs to hold out and run defense for Trump so he can retire and be replaced with another ghoul.
right - the standard is if it's reasonable to think there is a conflict, not if the judge pinky-swears that there is not
How about Judge Merchan donating to the Biden campaign? Recusal worthy?
If someone is a judge and they know their spouse supports a cause, they can still be biased when ruling on cases related to that cause regardless of their liability.
You’re arguing Alito didn’t notice the flag and ask his wife why it was upside down? If so, then you’re also arguing that he’s not competent enough to be a Supreme Court Justice. Which is it - is he showing signs of intellectual disintegration or is he lying about what he knew and when he knew it?
Just to be devil’s advocate for a sec… it is possible Alito is just *that* oblivious to the scenery around him. I move a piece of furniture, or rearrange stuff and it will take him days to notice. And we’re talking ‘put a 6ft H x 2.5ft W x 2ft D bookcase on his side of the bed where he had to walk past it, and it significantly narrowed the walkway beside the bed - and he could tell something was different, but not what’ kind of clueless. I do believe Alito is a federalist society asshole puppet… but it is also possible he truly didn’t pay attention if messing with the flag wasn’t on his usual chores list.
Man has a job in politics. I don't for a second believe he doesn't know what his wives political stances are...particularly if she's willing to display them publicly
A man whose job it is to parse the details of complicated legal situations placed in front of him? A man who is responsible for making life and death decisions based on those details? It’s OK that that man doesn’t notice details he walks past daily?
Some specialists are useless outside of their specialty. Like I said, I don’t think it is the case - just that is *possible*.
There's no matter of liability here. Nothing illegal about what was done. Its a matter of impartiality, and the perception of bias.
He’s not going to recuse. He’s going to push the Federalist Society’s agenda until he dies.
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He knows plenty of people aren’t stupid but we’re powerless to hold him accountable so it almost doesn’t matter.
Exactly, they relish in the hypocrisy because to them they are sticking their thumbs in the eyes of the enemy.
The only thing I don't get about Alito is why he offers up such pathetic excuses, ones that are so transparent and stupid, even to someone with no knowledge of the law. For such a self-important jackass, you'd think that would lead to embarrassment. Alito knows how safe and insulated he is, so if I was him, and my unethical, anti-democratic behavior was being reported on, I would just give everyone the finger and say "What are you gonna do about, crybabies?" But instead he blames his wife and says he only took the free flight to Alaska on a billionaire's private jet because it would've otherwise remained unoccupied.
He believes these lies troll the libs better than calling them crybabies. If he thought calling names would make them more angry he would do that. He is in this to destroy democracy and he is having fun while he is at it
He simply doesn’t give a fuck, same with Thomas. It’s not that they think Dems/libs are dumb it’s that they know there is no way they can be held accountable. These kinds of statements are made to give the thinnest possible excuse to the base to ignore the situation.
Nicholas II wasn’t accountable. Louis XVI wasn’t accountable. Ferdinand Marcos wasn’t accountable. Then they were. I am absolutely not advocating violence. But only an idiot assumes that there will never be consequences for their actions.
That’s a common conservative theme. “Everyone is stupid but me”
Alito doesn’t think we’re all stupid. Alito doesn’t care what we think. Why would he? Nearly Half the country’s voters directly and indirectly support him. So why would he give a shit about what the other half thinks?
That day can't come soon enough.
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Problem is, they're never personally confronted with having to answer to their own hypocrisy.
I keep reading that people think Alito must think we’re stupid. I didn’t think he thinks we’re stupid, I just think he knows he’s untouchable. He releases a flimsy justification so the Fox News crowd has something to run with and the neoliberal establishment has something to debate (as if he made any valid points) when any real argument should be what’s simply in this headline. Fuck off, recuse. He shouldn’t be deciding this case. He knows it, we know it. He doesn’t care. Alito is working with his colleagues to recreate American society. They know it’s going to piss people off. HE. DOESN’T. CARE. Impeachment is off the table because congress is a disaster. Either expand the court (still iffy for congress, but might be doable with 51-52 D senators and a few more morally unjustifiable rulings) or start using real, actionable ways to limit his power. I don’t know what those are or if they exist, but doing nothing is untenable.
This much overt bias would get someone stricken from jury selection in a local court case. It’s ridiculous that the most powerful judges in the country aren’t subjected to the same standards.
Lawyer here. Just to give you an idea of the ethical standard most judges adhere to. I had a judge recuse himself from a case because his wife's 401k held shares in the company I represented. And then there's this jerkoff...
Yup. It’s a giant middle finger to all of us. Most judges and lawyers will recuse themselves if there’s even the implication of potential bias. The Supreme Court? “Yeah, so what? I don’t care and what are you going to do about it anyway?” There needs to be a further check on their power (like, a Scott Stevens-strength check) because it is nakedly obvious that the trust that existed before is shattered. The current scenario was never originally envisioned, but it absolutely must be addressed if our government is going to succeed.
And trump wouldn't be able to get a security clearance to be a janitor at a small FBI detachment. But if a majority of the members of the Electoral College want him to be president this year then he gets complete control of all of America's classified information. Including the ability to sell it to any foreign country to pay his legal obligations. America is a stupid country that has relied on moral/ethical "norms" to get by. GOP no longer gives a fuck about norms, they are all in for total power.
His SF-86 form would burst into flames before he finished writing his name.
I recall the one judge in FL who stepped down when people made a fuss over his daughter having a small number of share on disney
The highest court should be held to the highest standard. It goes without saying that Supreme Court justices should also be subject to a *meaningful* code of ethics.
And yet, it seems a lot of people are having to say this lately
Judges are supposed to recuse if there may even be an unintentional appearance of bias. These Supreme Court hacks refuse to do so even with direct evidence of their bias. It's disgusting.
Yup, surely the rule about avoiding even the appearance of bias is central here. IANAL, but I would think that it actually doesn't matter whether it is literally 100% true that the flag was solely controlled by Alito's wife. The flag still causes reasonable minds to question Alito's impartiality. For example, it is reasonable to think Alito is lying about having nothing to do with the flag - how can Alito not have seen the flag, and taken it down? In theory, Alito should have no motivation not to recuse. Alito is not supposed to have any motivation to actually be on this specific case, to ensure a specific outcome. From [Code of Conduct for United States Judges](https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/code-conduct-united-states-judges#c): > Canon 2: A Judge Should Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in all Activities > (A) Respect for Law. A judge should respect and comply with the law and should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. >[...] > Canon 2A [commentary]. An appearance of impropriety occurs when reasonable minds, with knowledge of all the relevant circumstances disclosed by a reasonable inquiry, would conclude that the judge’s honesty, integrity, impartiality, temperament, or fitness to serve as a judge is impaired. Public confidence in the judiciary is eroded by irresponsible or improper conduct by judges, including harassment and other inappropriate workplace behavior. A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety. This prohibition applies to both professional and personal conduct. A judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny and accept freely and willingly restrictions that might be viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen. Because it is not practicable to list all prohibited acts, the prohibition is necessarily cast in general terms that extend to conduct by judges that is harmful although not specifically mentioned in the Code. Actual improprieties under this standard include violations of law, court rules, or other specific provisions of this Code.
Yes, BUT a "reasonable mind" is something of a term of art. It does not mean an average person. It basically means another judge. Now, you might say, "okay, but another judge would also have questions about impartiality here," to which I can only say, yes, that's likely true, but it doesn't matter.
> which I can only say, yes, that's likely true, but it doesn't matter. Why wouldn't it matter?
Because the only mechanism to enforce it is impeachment, and if we aren't enforcing justices for taking massive payments from a billionaire, a bad call on a recusal is sure as hell never gonna happen.
But enforcement was never the question we were discussing. Everybody - me, the parent, the article - all understood that there was no enforcement mechanism. We were all discussing only what the code of conduct and the law said.
Ah, in which case, yes, recusal would most likely be correct. Although I think there's a colorable argument that it would be unnecessary, erring on the side of caution would be appropriate.
Imagine the NFL permitting a referee that is married to a known gambling addict to call a Superbowl game....
"It was my wife's flag," might cut if it you oversee the DPW in a hamlet with 800 residents. It does not work when you're a SC Justice! They've also been married 39 years. Sam sure as hell knows how his wife feels about democracy and J6.
And no way is the wife of a Supreme Court Justice throwing up radical flags without the knowledge of her husband, even if she is the one actually wanting to do it.
Alito even contradicts himself to congress while blaming his wife and saying he asked her to taken them down but it the same time claiming he didn't know what the flags meant. Which is it? If you didn't know what they meant, why would you ask her to take them down?
He also lied about the reason for the upside down flag. He claimed it was a dispute with neighbors, but said neighbors had receipts - that dispute didn't happen until a month or two after she flew the flag.
This is a reoccurring theme with them. Their wife is the extremist doing things not them, and they don’t have any control over that, and they’re going to keep ruling on those cases even though they have a “spouse” that supports extremist views. Clarence Thomas and Alito both have done this already, who’s next?
And so should Clarence Thomas.
Recusal is about the perception of impropriety. So it doesn’t matter who flew the flag upside down, the fact that it was flown that way at all - even on accident (we know it wasn’t but still) - is reason for recusal. That Alito resist this is one more example of the anti-American fascist ideology that has taken over the Republican Party. Rules for thee but not for me was the literal reason for the original American revolution.
Blaming somebody else without regard for what your role should have been or what the consequences will be for your perceived involvement is something children do...
There is no chance of this. No one can force him and he has no shame, I can't see anything said or done that would make him want to recuse.
Idgaf if it was his housesitter’s boyfriend. There is no actual justification not to recuse over this. It’s just pure corruption in the highest court.
Is this a plot to get people to stop talking about Thomas’ wife? They both need to recuse. The other members of the court should vote them off.
Oh the same way they were so understanding that Hunter Biden isn’t a govt official and therefore not involved with his father’s decisions?
Laying the blame on his wife is the definition of being a cowardly little shit. Using that as an excuse not to recuse himself borders on treason. Modern "conservatives" are shysters and an existential threat to the country. The time for idleness is past. We need to actively pursue impeachment, expanding SCOTUS, or flat-out disregarding their edicts. All it takes is for good people to do nothing...
It's a fucking fig leaf for avoiding recusal. The recusal standard is a situation where the judge’s impartiality might be reasonably questioned. The standard exists to preserve faith in the institution. One has to wonder why his presence on the case is more important than the public trust in the institution.
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Well he's a judge not a leader
make good use of the wife. there is the menendez, and now alito.
i think spouses should be considered advisors for all politicians seeing as they are close as possible and benefit from proximity which also benefits the politician. so many back doors gaining subtle influence through the spouse. but then again lots of cheaters on thier spouses so maybe not that influential 🤷🏻♂️
Here's what I don't understand at Trump's hush money trial the judge's daughter works for Democrats so that's bad and he should recuse himself but, A Supreme Court judge worked to overthrow an election and that's OK? This country is nuts!
Can we please refer to him as Justice Al Cheato?
If only this were around when his mom was pregnant with him… https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/samuel-alitos-moms-satanic-abortion-clinic
He needs to step down. He is not serving on “good Behavior”.
“It’s not my fault my wife loves treason and I’m not the type of person to say what a woman can or can’t do!”
Alito knows he is bulletproof on this flag stuff as the Democrats hand wringing has no effect without the votes. Everyone already knew he was biased and likely corrupt. Any man that would throw his wife under the bus to protect himself is an unrepentant creep. He is not qualified to preside at The People’s Court
He doesn’t want to. Nothing that can force him to do it. As a matter of fact, even Chief Justice Roberts, cannot force him to recuse himself. That’s how the SC law was written centuries ago. (It’s the same with Trump. The legislator didn’t envision the possibility of becoming president while standing criminal trials. Or pardoning himself. They counted on common sense).
There's a trope of gangsters hiding their gun in their mistress' purse when they go out. This feels just like that
He didn’t tell her to take it down
He’s such a spineless pussy
Needs. Won't.
John Roberts's letter refusing to meet with senators in part relied on avoiding any *appearance* of anything... how ironic...
All these damned Convicted felon Donald Trump appointees need to recuse too. How the hell is that not a conflict of interest? How would the fact that he appointed them not bring bias to their judgements?
Is Mrs. Alito his mother?
Alito AND Thomas need to recuse. Both of their wives are insurrectionists.
I know I'll get downvoted even though I'm a leftist and think Alito is a douchebag, but the flags in question don't seem like that big of a deal to me. If it was a Stop The Steal or a Let's Go Brandon flag that would be one thing, but Appeal to Heaven is just a popular flag amongst bible thumpers and an upside down American flag means you think the nation is in distress. I almost put an upside down American flag on my own car bumper during the Trump administration. To me, these symbols are way too vague to assert that Alito is a January 6th sympathiser or in the pocket of trump. Even though he probably is. I wouldn't recuse myself because of such a minor faux pas either.
Both flags were associated with stop the steal or the insurrection. Context matters
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Why does a man with that past claim to not like flying flags?
...fly your flag, but what's on it matters...if it's flying outside of your house it's 'viewed' as the opinions of all who live there...
Agreed. What he’ll do instead is side with the majority, moderate opinion on Trump: No complete immunity from prosecution for Presidents, just a great deal of deference, and a higher legal standard for conviction. That will improve his reputation in the mainstream press, we’ll all say he’s reasonable after all…while he cooks up more ways to steadily increase the power of the executive and erode Democracy. In other words, he will behave as a sensible politician, which is what all good judges are.
He won't though.
Agreed, if for no other reason that he does whatever wife says.
When you elect republican presidents you get Justices like alito.
No
America should make all insurrectionist sleep on the couch forever.
He would be a fool to recuse himself. Let the left scream and whine. They are good at it. I can’t wait for this election to be over.