A flag that said "Appeal to Heaven'' − carried by some people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, flew over a home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito last summer, the New York Times reported. The flag, a symbol for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign, was raised over Alito's New Jersey vacation home in July and September of 2023. The Times reported earlier that an upside-down U.S. flag flew over the justices' Virginia home in January 2021. Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, raised the inverted flag in response to a dispute with a neighbor and he “had no involvement whatsoever."
The high court is deciding two cases related to former President Trump and his supporters' efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, decisions that will affect the criminal election interference charges against Trump, reports USA Today. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who heads the Judiciary Committee, renewed his call for Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 insurrection. “This episode will further erode public faith in the court," Durbin said, as he urged Chief Justice John Roberts to add an enforcement mechanism to the court's ethics code.