The conservative justice sent letters to Congress in response to requests that he recuse himself in two pending cases involving Trump and Jan. 6.
WASHINGTON — Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito declined Wednesday to step aside from two pending cases relating to former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol following recent news reports about contentious flags flown at his private properties.
In letters to members of Congress calling for his recusal, Alito said the two incidents involving flags at his home in Virginia and a vacation property in New Jersey, first reported by The New York Times, “do not meet the conditions for recusal” set out in the Supreme Court’s newly adopted ethics code.
Alito said that in both instances “a reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases” would conclude that no recusal was required. One letter was sent to Democratic senators, while the other was sent to Democrats in the House.
He added he had no involvement in the decision to fly either flag, saying both were raised by his wife, Martha-Ann Alito.
In the first incident, neighbors said, an upside-down U.S. flag was flown in early 2021 just after Jan. 6 and the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
In the other incident, a flag linked with conservative Christians bearing the motto “Appeal to Heaven” was flown at the vacation home the following year.