Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) slammed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for an American flag that flew upside down at his Virginia home in 2021, saying that despite tensions reportedly running high in the neighborhood at the time, it was “not good judgment” on Alito’s part.
“Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood,” Graham told reporters Monday. “But no, it’s not good judgment to do that. He said his wife was insulted and got mad. I assume that to be true, but he’s still a Supreme Court justice, and people have to realize that [at] moments like that to think it through.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking member delivered the criticism of the conservative justice following a report from The New York Times last week, featuring a photo of the flag flying upside down outside Alito’s home.
Flying the American flag upside down is associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement, based on false claims of election of fraud in the 2020 election.
The photo was taken outside of Alito’s Alexandria, Va., home nearly two weeks after Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building, and a few days ahead of President Biden’s inauguration.
Alito, in response to the Times, said the flag was put up by his wife, Martha-Ann, and he had no part in it. A day later, he told Fox News anchor Shannon Bream that he and his wife had an “exchange” with a neighbor.
“Alito says the man engaged in vulgar language, ‘including the c-word,’” Bream reported Friday.
Democrats in both chambers have criticized the conservative judge, with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) calling for him to recuse himself from upcoming cases related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. An appointee of former President George W. Bush who was confirmed to the nation’s highest court in 2006, Alito has faced scrutiny from Democrats previously over reports he has received vacations and gifts from wealthy Republican donors.