The Bias of Alito

[TC Talks]

Does Alito need to recuse himself from Trump hearings in front the Supreme Court?

This chump is our last bastion of upholding the constitution? His demonstrated arrogance suggests the Chief Justice may need to get involved.

The revelation that an upside-down American flag, a symbol adopted to contest Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s electoral victory, flew outside Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s house in the days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol raised questions about whether that had violated ethics rules.

The justice has said that his wife put up the flag in response to a neighbor’s anti-Trump yard sign. It remains unclear how long the inverted flag was on display outside his residence in Virginia.

It is the most recent disclosure about the Supreme Court to fuel concerns about impartiality and the appearance of bias.

Does the Supreme Court’s ethics code require Justice Alito to recuse himself from cases related to Jan. 6?
Ethics experts say there is not a clear-cut answer. That is in part because the justice said his wife had put up the flag, raising questions about whether the flag, and its symbolism, reflected his own views.

“It’s close,” said Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia and ethics expert. “I certainly think it raises a question.”

Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge and the director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, contrasted the situation with Justice Clarence Thomas and his recusal this term from an appeal involving an architect of the plan to subvert the 2020 election. Justice Thomas did not cite a reason in declining to participate in the case.

[bmw]

Does Alito need to recuse himself from Trump hearings in front the Supreme Court?

No. Is a Supreme Court Justice responsible for everything their spouse does?

[TC Talks]

And we are sure that is the case? Remember that "appearance " is the threshold of conflict of interest.

[Rate This]

Does Alito need to recuse himself from Trump hearings in front the Supreme Court?

No. Is a Supreme Court Justice responsible for everything their spouse does?

Who’s name is the house in? If it’s in his name he’s responsible for whatever is displayed there and approves of such by default. When you get to the level he’s at appearances matter… there is zero chance his wife put the flag up that way without him knowing about it. The wife thing may even be an excuse that gives him a fig leaf .

Besides… he’s one that I have no doubt was cheering the rioters on…

[Honeyman]

Does Alito need to recuse himself from Trump hearings in front the Supreme Court?

No. Is a Supreme Court Justice responsible for everything their spouse does?

I can't believe anybody can excuse this action in any possible way. From a Supreme Court justice?!?

[Rate This]

Does Alito need to recuse himself from Trump hearings in front the Supreme Court?

No. Is a Supreme Court Justice responsible for everything their spouse does?

I can't believe anybody can excuse this action in any possible way. From a Supreme Court justice?!?

I can’t believe anybody buys this stupid cover story lock stock and barrel.

[Mega Hertz]

I'm so sick of this "...moi?" attitude permeating through American politics. Motherfuckers know exactly what they're doing, what they're saying, what they mean.

Between this and the story I saw about Rep. Greene (and don't hand me any shit about "media" or "the left", I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears). What we lack is three things: responsibility, accountability and, last but not least, maturity. This is the "I can say/do it, so I will...and what are YOU gonna do about it" belief at work.

It's this "wellllll.......technically......." bullshit at work. It's like RT says...they didn't go over the line, but did walk right up and piss over it. This whole shit show is a joke.

[Matt]

WSJ Editorial:

The political left will never forgive Justice Samuel Alito for writing the opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, and so like Justice Clarence Thomas he will be attacked to the end of his days. The latest attempt to discredit him is the story in the New York Times about an inverted flag at his home in January 2021.

Flying the flag upside down, we are informed, was a gesture at the time by some Americans to show solidarity with Donald Trump’s “stop the steal” campaign. The Justice says his wife “briefly” flew the flag in that fashion amid a dispute with a neighbor. “I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” the Justice told the Times.

Flying an inverted flag is appropriate only as a sign of dire distress or extreme danger. It was a particular mistake in this case given the political context, not least because it handed Justice Alito’s enemies another excuse to beat him up. But the Justice’s explanation sounds plausible. He speaks his mind but isn’t prone to emotional gestures. We’ve met his wife without knowing her well, but she is entitled to have an opinion about the 2020 election, or Donald Trump, or anything else.

The Times’s story teed up liberal ethicists to portray the episode as a grave judicial offense. CNN and other voices hostile to the conservative Justices piled on. The left wants to tarnish Justice Alito’s reputation, as well as cause him to recuse himself from participating in any case involving Mr. Trump.

No such recusal is necessary on ethical or any other grounds. The political views of spouses don’t dictate, or in our experience even influence, how a Justice will rule.

Keep in mind that it is the Biden Administration, with its prosecutions of the former President, that has thrown the Court into the Trump morass that the Justices we know would rather avoid. Justices are obliged to follow the law and Constitution as they see it, and they can’t win politically no matter how they rule on issues such as presidential immunity,

Keep in mind, too, the double standard that has long prevailed in Washington and in the press about the Court. No Justice in our memory was more overtly political than the sainted Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as recounted and criticized by the late, great D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman in these pages.

In 2016 RBG told the New York Times that “I can’t imagine what this place would be—I can’t imagine what the country would be—with Donald Trump as our president. . . . For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be—I don’t even want to contemplate that.” She apologized for that remark, but not for also interfering with Senate prerogatives by stumping for the confirmation of then Judge Merrick Garland to the Court.

We don’t like to highlight this about the late Justice, but the press was never up in arms about her political indiscretions. As for the current conservative Justices, they will never stop being targets of the political left, and so they will have to be careful even about how they fly Old Glory on the front lawn.

[TC Talks]

So according to this I'll constructed piece, we should forgo developing ethics because we haven't had them for centuries?

A SCOTUS justice creates a conflict by displaying this at his home, period.

Maybe the WSJ option folks will advocate that slavery is a traditional that shouldn't be scrutinized either...

[Honeyman]

WSJ Editorial:

The political left will never forgive Justice Samuel Alito for writing the opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, and so like Justice Clarence Thomas he will be attacked to the end of his days. The latest attempt to discredit him is the story in the New York Times about an inverted flag at his home in January 2021.

Flying the flag upside down, we are informed, was a gesture at the time by some Americans to show solidarity with Donald Trump’s “stop the steal” campaign. The Justice says his wife “briefly” flew the flag in that fashion amid a dispute with a neighbor. “I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” the Justice told the Times.

Flying an inverted flag is appropriate only as a sign of dire distress or extreme danger. It was a particular mistake in this case given the political context, not least because it handed Justice Alito’s enemies another excuse to beat him up. But the Justice’s explanation sounds plausible. He speaks his mind but isn’t prone to emotional gestures. We’ve met his wife without knowing her well, but she is entitled to have an opinion about the 2020 election, or Donald Trump, or anything else.

The Times’s story teed up liberal ethicists to portray the episode as a grave judicial offense. CNN and other voices hostile to the conservative Justices piled on. The left wants to tarnish Justice Alito’s reputation, as well as cause him to recuse himself from participating in any case involving Mr. Trump.

No such recusal is necessary on ethical or any other grounds. The political views of spouses don’t dictate, or in our experience even influence, how a Justice will rule.

Keep in mind that it is the Biden Administration, with its prosecutions of the former President, that has thrown the Court into the Trump morass that the Justices we know would rather avoid. Justices are obliged to follow the law and Constitution as they see it, and they can’t win politically no matter how they rule on issues such as presidential immunity,

Keep in mind, too, the double standard that has long prevailed in Washington and in the press about the Court. No Justice in our memory was more overtly political than the sainted Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as recounted and criticized by the late, great D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman in these pages.

In 2016 RBG told the New York Times that “I can’t imagine what this place would be—I can’t imagine what the country would be—with Donald Trump as our president. . . . For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be—I don’t even want to contemplate that.” She apologized for that remark, but not for also interfering with Senate prerogatives by stumping for the confirmation of then Judge Merrick Garland to the Court.

We don’t like to highlight this about the late Justice, but the press was never up in arms about her political indiscretions. As for the current conservative Justices, they will never stop being targets of the political left, and so they will have to be careful even about how they fly Old Glory on the front lawn.

WSJ= Whataboutism Street Journal

[Bail Bonds]

Justice Alito’s critics are grasping at straws with this inverted flag nonsense. Unlike the left's untouchable heroes, he has the integrity to stay focused on upholding the Constitution rather than pandering to partisan hysteria. His wife's actions are irrelevant, and it's laughable to think they impact his judicial decisions.

[Rate This]

Justice Alito’s critics are grasping at straws with this inverted flag nonsense. Unlike the left's untouchable heroes, he has the integrity to stay focused on upholding the Constitution rather than pandering to partisan hysteria. His wife's actions are irrelevant, and it's laughable to think they impact his judicial decisions.

It’s even more laughable to think he was oblivious to the flag or what it meant or that his wife did it.

[audiophile]

Justice Alito’s critics are grasping at straws with this inverted flag nonsense. Unlike the left's untouchable heroes, he has the integrity to stay focused on upholding the Constitution rather than pandering to partisan hysteria. His wife's actions are irrelevant, and it's laughable to think they impact his judicial decisions.

It’s even more laughable to think he was oblivious to the flag or what it meant or that his wife did it.

No more so than the Biden signs in front of your house affect your postings on this board.

[Rate This]

Justice Alito’s critics are grasping at straws with this inverted flag nonsense. Unlike the left's untouchable heroes, he has the integrity to stay focused on upholding the Constitution rather than pandering to partisan hysteria. His wife's actions are irrelevant, and it's laughable to think they impact his judicial decisions.

It’s even more laughable to think he was oblivious to the flag or what it meant or that his wife did it.

No more so than the Biden signs in front of your house affect your postings on this board.

Huh?

[Honeyman]

Justice Alito’s critics are grasping at straws with this inverted flag nonsense. Unlike the left's untouchable heroes, he has the integrity to stay focused on upholding the Constitution rather than pandering to partisan hysteria. His wife's actions are irrelevant, and it's laughable to think they impact his judicial decisions.

It’s even more laughable to think he was oblivious to the flag or what it meant or that his wife did it.

No more so than the Biden signs in front of your house affect your postings on this board.

Great point, audiophile. Because the actions of a poster on mibuzzboard is exactly the same as a Supreme Court Justice.