CNN
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Key Republican senators sharply criticized Supreme Court docket Justice Samuel Alito after news reports showed an upside-down American flag – a logo utilized by some supporters of former President Donald Trump who challenged the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory – flying exterior his house in 2021.
Such criticism of a conservative justice from high-ranking GOP senators is extraordinarily uncommon and an indication of how uncommon the controversy is.
In a short interview with CNN, Senate Republican Whip John Thune, one of many contenders vying to interchange retiring Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, known as the flag a “unhealthy choice.”
“I don’t know the way you clarify that,” Thune mentioned.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, the highest Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, mentioned that it was a “mistake” for Alito to have an American flag hanging the wrong way up at his house.
“It creates a foul picture,” Graham informed CNN’s Manu Raju. “It created a state of affairs that we’re all speaking about. So, yeah, I feel it was a mistake.”
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney echoed considerations concerning the flag.
“It’s very unlucky and we ought to try it,” he mentioned to reporters.
The upside-down flag turned a logo of the “Cease the Steal” motion within the weeks and months following the election, through which Trump’s supporters falsely claimed that Biden’s win was illegitimate attributable to widespread fraud. The inverted flag was extensively seen throughout the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.
The New York Instances revealed a photograph of the inverted flag, which it mentioned was seen on the justice’s house in Alexandria, Virginia, on January 17, 2021.
“I had no involvement in any respect within the flying of the flag,” Alito mentioned in an emailed assertion to the Instances. “It was briefly positioned by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard indicators.”
Many Republicans who spoke to CNN, nonetheless, defended Alito or downplayed the matter. Even some who questioned his judgment over the incident nonetheless defended his function on the courtroom.
“There’s at all times accusations made about, you understand, members of this courtroom, and the left has tried very laborious to discredit them,” Thune mentioned. “This can be a courtroom that’s trying on the legislation within the Structure and decoding it as they need to.”
“I don’t assume he needs to be recused,” Graham informed Raju.
Many Republicans vehemently argued towards requires Alito to recuse himself from Trump- and election-related instances.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the Judiciary Committee who’s operating to be GOP chief, mentioned, “there are extra necessary issues to fret about.”
Cornyn described the give attention to the upside -down flag as “continued harassment” towards Alito.
“Ever since Clarence Thomas skilled what he known as the high-tech lynching, I feel we’ve seen repeated efforts to attempt to undermine the credibility of the Supreme Court docket. And that is simply the newest episode,” Cornyn added.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, additionally a member of the Judiciary Committee, mentioned information of the flag is the “newest try by the left to assault and query the Supreme Court docket.” He mentioned calls by Democrats for Alito to recuse himself from some instances involving Trump is “an idiotic factor to assume that has nothing to do with what’s happening.”
GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana mentioned, “That is America and Mrs. Alito is entitled to her opinion, however I don’t see any proof in any respect that Justice Alito had something to do with it.”
Kennedy additionally weighed in on the function and obligations of Supreme Court docket spouses.
“Ought to they be discreet and even handed in the best way they articulate their standpoint? Certain. However they don’t need to be,” Kennedy mentioned.
One other GOP senator appeared to downplay the problem as a dispute between neighbors.
“It gave the impression of some form of neighborhood factor. I don’t actually have a touch upon it,” mentioned Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia.
CNN’s John Fritze, Lauren Fox, Morgan Rimmer and Manu Raju contributed to this report.