Senate Dems send strongly worded letter demanding Justice Alito recuse himself from J6 cases over flying Appeal to Heaven flag

On Friday, Senate Democrats requested a formal meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts of the United States Supreme Court to discuss the flag controversy involving Justice Samuel Alito.

The letter demands Justice Roberts ensure that Justice Alito recuses himself from any cases related to the 2020 presidential election, January 6, and former President Donald Trump's presidential immunity hearing.

This follows a New York Times hit piece on Justice Alito published earlier this month about flags that had been flown at two of his residences, including an upside-down American flag in 2021 at his Virginia residence and an "Appeal to Heaven" flag spotted at his New Jersey residence last summer.

Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and subcommittee head Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse claimed in the letter that the "Appeal to Heaven" flag and the upside-down American flag are symbols of the J6 riot at the US Capitol.

However, the "Appeal to Heaven" flag, which is white with an evergreen tree, dates back to the Revolutionary War, and the American flag flipped upside down has long been used by Americans to express the opinion that America is in peril. For this, the two senators demanded he recuse himself and claimed he violated the High Court's code of conduct.

"By displaying or permitting the display of prominent symbols of the 'Stop the Steal' campaign outside his homes, Justice Alito clearly created an appearance of impropriety in violation of the Code of Conduct for Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (hereinafter Code of Conduct) that all nine justices adopted last year. He also created reasonable doubt as to his impartiality in certain proceedings, thereby requiring his disqualification in those proceedings as established by the Code of Conduct and federal law," the senators wrote.

"We therefore call for Justice Alito to recuse himself from certain proceedings as outlined above, renew our call for the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable code of conduct for Supreme Court justices, and request a meeting with you as soon as possible," they said. "Until the Court and the Judicial Conference take meaningful action to address this ongoing ethical crisis, we will continue our efforts to enact legislation to resolve this crisis."

The High Court is currently hearing a number of high-profile cases involving the 2020 election and January 6, including the issue of whether Trump can be exempt from federal election subversion charges on claims of presidential immunity. This is why the Alitos' flag selections have been attracting noise, even though none of them are still being flown, and haven't been for quite some time.

Democrat politicians have expressed severe anger over Alito's flags, but it has been revealed that much like across the United States, the "Appeal to Heaven" flag is proudly being flown in San Francisco, a Democrat-run city which is in Rep. Nancy Pelosi's District, who was responsible for forming the J6 House select committee.

On Wednesday, several Republican lawmakers expressed their support for Alito. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told CNN that the "entire hoopla is greatly exaggerated" and accused Senate Democrats of attempting to undermine the court's legitimacy.

Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, also rebutted criticisms of Alito and told CNN: "Justice Alito is an outstanding justice. The left is always out to go after him, Judge Thomas — of course, we know what they’ve done to Judge Kavanaugh. They’re all good guys, have done a good job on the court."