Key GOP senators criticize Alito over upside-down flag incident

Leading Republican senators sharply criticized Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito after news reports showed an upside-down American flag flying outside his home in 2021, a symbol used by some supporters of former President Donald Trump who questioned the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

Such criticism of a conservative judge by senior GOP senators is extremely rare and a sign of how unusual the controversy is.

In a brief interview with CNN, Republican Senate Whip John Thune, one of the candidates to succeed outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, called the flag a “bad decision.”

“I don’t know how you explain that,” said Thune.

Senator Lindsey Graham, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it was a “mistake” for Alito to hang an American flag upside down on his house.

“It creates a bad image,” Graham told CNN’s Manu Raju. “It created a situation that we’re all talking about. So, yes, I think it was a mistake.”

Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney expressed concerns about the flag.

“This is very unfortunate and we should look into it,” he told reporters.

The upside-down flag became a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement in the weeks and months following the election, in which Trump supporters falsely claimed that Biden’s victory was illegitimate due to widespread voter fraud. The upside-down flag was widely seen during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The New York Times published a photo of the upside-down flag that was allegedly seen at the judge’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, on January 17, 2021.

“I had no involvement in the raising of the flag in any way,” Alito said in an email to the Times. “It was raised briefly by Ms. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of offensive and personally offensive language on yard signs.”

However, many Republicans who spoke to CNN defended Alito or downplayed the matter. Even some who questioned his judgment regarding the incident still defended his role on the court.

“There are always allegations being made against members of this court, and the left has gone to great lengths to discredit them,” Thune said. “This is a court that looks at the laws of the Constitution and interprets them as it should.”

“I don’t think he should be biased,” Graham told Raju.

Many Republicans vehemently opposed calls for Alito to recuse himself from cases related to Trump and the election.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the Judiciary Committee and a Republican candidate for chairman, said: “There are more important things to worry about.”

Cornyn called the focus on the upside-down flag a “sustained harassment” against Alito.

“Since Clarence Thomas experienced what he called a high-tech lynching, I think we have seen repeated attempts to undermine the credibility of the Supreme Court. And this is just the latest episode,” Cornyn added.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, also a member of the Judiciary Committee, said the flag message was the “latest attempt by the left to attack and challenge the Supreme Court.” He said Democrats’ demand that Alito recuse himself from some cases involving Trump was “an idiotic notion that has nothing to do with what is going on right now.”

Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said: “This is America, and Mrs. Alito is entitled to her opinion, but I see no evidence that Judge Alito had anything to do with it.”

Kennedy also discussed the roles and responsibilities of spouses of Supreme Court justices.

“Should they be discreet and cautious in the way they articulate their position? Sure. But they don’t have to,” Kennedy said.

Another Republican senator seemed to downplay the issue as a dispute between neighbors.

“It sounded like this was a neighborhood thing. I don’t really have any comment on that,” said Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia.

CNN’s John Fritze, Lauren Fox, Morgan Rimmer and Manu Raju contributed to this report.

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