Chief Justice Roberts declines to meet with Dem senators after they demand Alito recuse himself over media-made flag controversy

Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse really want Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself over any cases involving either J6 or Donald Trump, their reasoning is that his wife flew an upside down US flag at their home and an Appeal to Heaven flag at their shore house. The New York Times broke the story of the flag, which actually occurred in 2021. Rep. Jamie Raskin has also demanded that Alito recuse himself, using The New York Times' opinion page to do so.

Alito refused to recuse himself, and so Whitehouse and Durbin have attempted to go over his head, demanding a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts. In response, Roberts declined.



In a letter to the Senators from the Chief Justice, Roberts thanked the the lawmakers, but said "In regard to questions concerning any Justice's participation in pending case, the Members of the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the practice we have followed for 235 years pursuant to which individual Justices decide recusal issues."

After directing them to a Statement on Ethics Principles and Practices, he said "I must respectfully decline your request for a meeting." Before the court are cases in which the nature of presidential immunity will be determined, which would have far reaching implications for both Biden's cases against President Donald Trump. Other decisions facing the court concern cases of J6ers who are awaiting trial. 

"As noted in my letter to Chairman Durbin last April, apart from ceremonial events, only on rare occasions in our Nation's history has a sitting Chief Justice met with legislators, even in a public setting (such as a Committee hearing) with members of both major political parties present.

"Separation of power concerns," Roberts said, "and the importance of preserving judicial independence counsel against such appearances. Moreover, the format proposes—a meeting with leaders of only one party who have expressed interest in matters currently pending before the court—simply underscores that participating in such a meeting would be inadvisable."

It was in late May that The New York Times ran a story about the Alito home's flag pole and the state of the US flag flown there in 2021. Alito's wife Martha-Ann had hung the flag after a neighbor posted an anti-Trump sign emblazoned with an expletive. Mrs. Alito asked that it be removed so children walking by would not see it. The neighbors followed up with a sign blaming none other than Mrs. Alito for the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021. In response, Mrs. Alito embraced the accusation and flew the flag.

Later, it was revealed that the Alito's flew an Appeal to Heaven flag at their New Jersey shore house, the same flag flown by the City Hall in San Francisco until this dust-up prompted them to take it down after decades.

Raskin, who served on the J6 committee, penned an op ed in the Times demanding that Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife is a known supporter of former President Donald Trump, recuse themselves from cases involving Trump or J6. His reasoning, in both instances, is that the men's wives had misbehaved and so the men should be professionally punished for their wives' actions.

"It seems unfathomable," Raskin wrote, "that the two justices could get away with deciding for themselves whether they can be impartial in ruling on cases affecting Donald Trump’s liability for crimes he is accused of committing on Jan. 6."

Raskin then went on to smear the men's wives, saying "Justice Thomas’s wife, Ginni Thomas, was deeply involved in the Jan. 6 'stop the steal' movement. Above the Virginia home of Justice Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, flew an upside-down American flag — a strong political statement among the people who stormed the Capitol. Above the Alitos’ beach home in New Jersey flew another flag that has been adopted by groups opposed to President Biden."

He then calls on Biden's Department of Justice to remove the men from the cases that Roberts has already said outright is a decision each man holds for himself. Raskin, Durbin, and Whitehouse each wish to invoke the authority of men with more power than themselves to do the dirty work of deposing political opponents of the head of their Democrat party.