Behind Justice Alito’s war with his progressive neighbors

“Somebody in a position of authority needs to talk to her and make her stop,” complained a thirty-six-year-old man to a Fairfax County, Virginia, officer on the line, according to a recording reviewed by the New York Times.

The alleged perp here? Martha-Ann Alito, wife of conservative Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito. Like Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife Virginia, Martha-Ann is now all over the news, with progressive activists ready to use her to discredit her husband’s rulings.

Earlier this month, the Times reported the Alito household had flown an upside-down Old Glory flag at their Virginia home. The US flag code states that the flag ought not to be inverted “except as a signal of dire distress in instance of extreme danger to life or property.” Thus, some were quick to connect dots, i.e., the flag was seen on January 2021, so while not confirmed, the display may have had something to do with January 6 and the “Stop the Steal” movement. 

To make things worse (or more fun), the three-year-old incident evolved into a broader “Flag-gate,” with another Alito-flown flag making headlines. This was an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, seen outside the couple’s New Jersey beach home in September 2023. The phrase imprinted on this flag originates from John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, where it is used to describe the right of revolution. It was first adopted in 1775, becoming Massachusetts’s navy flag the next year, as well as a symbol of New England resiliency for years to come. 

History is sometimes too complex, so major news outlets went with “Christian nationalism” instead. The word “Heaven” is on it, after all!

The January 6 rioters used variations of these two flags (and plenty of others), which has led prominent Democrats to argue that Justice Alito ought to recuse himself from election-related cases. House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries said at a press conference that Alito should recuse himself “from any matter pending before the Supreme Court of the United States that has to do with the January 6 violent insurrection. He should have no part of it.” Others such as the Squad’s Representative Cori Bush have taken it a bit further, calling for him to step down, not just aside. 

Justice Alito has remained rather quiet through this all, until in an interview with Fox News, he explained that his wife flew the flag following a neighbor’s display of a vulgar anti-Trump sign, as well as a sign personally blaming Mrs. Alito for January 6.

“There were words between Mrs. Alito and a male at the home with the sign,” the network reported. The justice said the man used “vulgar language, including the C-word.” After these incidents, “Mrs. Alito was distraught and hung the flag upside-down.”

Today, Alito said more in a letter to Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Dick Durbin. “I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention. As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused.”

Answering to calls for him to recuse himself from election-related cases, Alito wrote: “I am confident that a reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that the events recounted above do not meet the applicable standard for recusal. I am therefore required to reject your request.”

The latest New York Times story offers a different telling of events, from the perspective of Emily Baden, the wife of the man who called the cops.  

“Aside from putting up a sign, we did not begin or instigate any of these confrontations,” Baden told the Times. 

After Alito’s “pandemic puppy”-owning progressive neighbors’ “whooped and danced in the streets of the nation’s capital,” following Joe Biden’s 2020 win, “they displayed a political sign they had made from torn-up Amazon boxes, saying ‘BYE DON’ on one side and ‘Fuck Trump’ on the other.”

A few months after, Baden recalls walking her dog when Mrs. Alito thanked her for taking down the sign (she didn’t; it had blown down). She proceeded to tell Alito that the sign would stay up (talk about being peaceful).

And then came January 6, with new signs popping up: “Trump Is a Fascist” and “You Are Complicit.” Both were taken down by Baden’s mother: “I do not want to mark my house.”

Soon after President Biden’s inauguration, which was skipped by Justice Alito and two others, citing Covid concerns, Baden and her then-boyfriend decided to drive by the Alito home to “see what’s going on.” (Yep, she revealed this to the Times after all the media-whining about harassment.)

They encountered Mrs. Alito, standing outside the house, and according to them, she ran toward their car and yelled something incomprehensible. “As they passed the Alito home again to exit the cul-de-sac, Mrs. Alito appeared to spit toward the vehicle,” the Times report reads.

On February 15, the Badens encountered the Alitos once again, with Mrs. Alito allegedly calling them “fascists” and using a vulgarity. The justice, as the Badens recall, stayed quiet. As the Alitos walked away, Emily Baden “snapped,” saying something along these lines: “How dare you behave this way. You’ve been harassing us, over signs. You represent the highest court in the land. Shame on you.”

In the interview, Baden also admits to having called Mrs. Alito a “cunt,” dismissing previous reports that had placed the blame on her partner.

It was after this event that the couple decided to call the police, recording the conversation and leaving out the part where Baden used the lewd language. The officer responded by telling them that there’s nothing that can be done. “Next time that happens, you’re welcome to call us back out there, we’ll see if we can get there to see what’s going on ourselves.”

The question of who harassed whom will continue to be asked, but from the interview, one can safely determine Emily Baden really wanted to be the heroine. As two key cases relating to January 6 make their way to the court, this scandal does not appear to be going anywhere, anytime soon.