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Snapshot 1:Fri, May 24, 2024 8:16:20 PM GMT last edited by JoeSpinosa

Flags Outside of Justice Alito's Home Spark Controversy

Image copyright: Michael A. McCoy/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Images North America

The Facts

  • Reports that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito displayed the “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside of his New Jersey vacation home have sparked backlash from Democrats and media who claim that the Revolutionary-era banner is a political symbol of the right.

  • The New York Times reported on Wednesday that it obtained photographs showing the Pine Tree flag being flown outside Alito’s Long Beach Island home during the summer of 2023, leading critics to associate the flag with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol protests.


The Spin

Just like his far-right legal rulings, Justice Alito’s flags show that he is a judicial activist with a scary vision of the US and its Constitution. The upside-down American flag and “Appeal to Heaven” flag were both prominent symbols of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the Alitos’ embrace of them shows their partisan allegiance to Donald Trump. While Alito may try to claim that the banners have nothing to do with Trump’s attempted coup, all circumstantial evidence suggests that the Justice should recuse himsel

Democrats and their corporate media allies displayed their ignorance of history with their hysterical reaction to the “Appeal to Heaven” flag displayed outside Justice Alito’s home. Instead of discussing the flag’s significance during the founding of the country and its allusion to the words of John Locke, the left is trying to reframe it as a symbol of “insurrection.” Like the pine tree adorning it, the “Appeal to Heaven” flag is a symbol of peace that is richly steeped in American history.


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