After the 2020 presidential #election, as some #Trump supporters falsely claimed that President #Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars & online: an upside-down #AmericanFlag.
One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of #SupremeCourt Justice Samuel A #Alito Jr, in Alexandria, VA, acc/to photographs & interviews w/neighbors.
The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan 17, 2021, images showed. #Trump’s supporters, incl’g some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. President #Biden’s inauguration was 3 days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some…were recently obtained by The NYT. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.
While the flag was up, the court was still contending w/whether to hear a #2020election case, w/Justice #Alito on the losing end of that decision. In coming wks, the justices will rule on 2 climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on #Jan6, incl’g whether #Trump has #immunity for his actions. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election & his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.
…“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag, “Justice #Alito emailed NYT. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable & personally insulting language on yard signs.”
…Interviews show Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, had been in a dispute w/another family on the block over an anti-Trump sign on their lawn, given the timing & starkness of the symbol, neighbors interpreted the inverted flag as a #political stmnt by the couple.
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