WASHINGTON (AP) — A second flag of a type carried by rioters during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was displayed outside a house owned by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
An “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown outside Alito’s beach vacation home last summer. An inverted American flag — another symbol carried by rioters — was seen at Alito’s home outside Washington less than two weeks after the violent attack on the Capitol.
News of the upside-down American flag sparked an uproar last week, including calls from high-ranking Democrats for Alito to recuse himself from cases related to former President Donald Trump.
Alito and the court declined to respond to requests for comment on how the “Appeal to Heaven” flag came to be flying and what it was intended to express. He previously said the inverted American flag was flown by his wife amid a dispute with neighbors, and he had no part in it.
The white flag with a green pine tree was seen flying at the Alito beach home in New Jersey, according to three photographs obtained by the Times. The images were taken on different dates in July and September 2023, though it wasn’t clear how long it was flying overall or how much time Alito spent there.
The flag dates back to the Revolutionary War, but in more recent years it has become associated with Christian nationalism and support for Trump. It was carried by rioters fueled by Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement animated by false claims of election fraud.
Republicans in Congress and state officials have also displayed the flag. House Speaker Mike Johnson hung it at his office last fall shortly after winning the gavel. A spokesman said the speaker appreciates its rich history and was given the flag by a pastor who served as a guest chaplain for the House.
While oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization were ongoing in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 1, 2021, anti-abortion protestors demonstrated outside the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, some waving flags with
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