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At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display as the Supreme Court was considering an election case. (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 6 months ago by silence7 to c/nyt_gift_articles@sopuli.xyz
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[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 72 points 6 months ago (3 children)

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 and in online posts: an upside-down American flag.

One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors.

The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. Mr. Biden’s inauguration was three days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some of which were recently obtained by The New York Times. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.

Traitorous fascist

[–] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 20 points 6 months ago (4 children)

When did we stop punishing traitors?

[–] Arbiter@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago

When we put them in power.

[–] Zehzin@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Right after the civil war?

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

In 2016. Possibly as far back as 2001.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Apparently around 2016.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 28 points 6 months ago

Holy fuck.

[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 27 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

These people shouldn’t qualify to be judges. They disrespect our country in fundamental ways.

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 21 points 6 months ago (2 children)

OK, so what is anyone in power gonna do about it?

[–] crawancon@lemm.ee 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

fucking nothing

[–] psmgx@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Which means the average American needs to take to the streets.

See also: Pullman railroad strikes

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

There really is nothing anybody in power can do. He’s a Supreme Court justice. Appointment for life. The only ways for him to vacate his position is to die or to be impeached. This means that not only would the House have to impeach him, but more importantly, the Senate would have to convict and remove him; by a two-thirds majority, no less.

With the current spread in both the house and senate, you’d be better off becoming an expat.

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

They can stack the court if they get a majority in both (which would increase election chances since you'd be giving people hope they won't live in a theocracy ruled an unelected supreme council. Fuck we're even less democratic than Iran on paper.), they can marginalize the court by very publicly refusing to enforce their rulings, they can have them assassinated.

The alternative is expecting to win every single election for the next 40 years or so until they die of natural causes. And then being willing to ban the filibuster to actually get a dem pick in.

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

There’s the rub: the republicans stacked the courts, which is how we got to where we are now. They did it even when the democrats had majority rule. The dems, on the other hand, are pretty much too scatterbrained to organize on the level necessary to pull that shit off. I’m really surprised (and impressed) that they got 278 democrats to pass that discharge petition. That was monumental, especially for the democrats.

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 months ago

A tactic FDR used was threatening to add justices to the court. That's what's meant by stacking the court.

The threat was enough to get them to do what he wanted, since they realized they could either go along with him, or go against it and be marginalized since they have no actual power to enforce their rulings.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

What you're basically saying, which has been true for some time now, is that our government no longer functions as it was meant to function. All of those protections were put into place to keep individuals or small groups from seizing power. It seems the forefathers never anticipated that a strong majority would be in favor of overthrowing democracy. Or maybe they just figured that if a strong majority was in favor of it, then so be it. If that's the case then I guess it's operating exactly as it was intended to function.

[–] Sconrad122@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

30-40% is not a strong majority, they are just overrepresented thanks to a lot of those "safeguards" the founding fathers put in place. 2 senators per state, electoral college, first past the post, the concept of a supermajority needed for many things of note to even get done all mean that 30% of the electorate can hold the majority by the balls if they are rural landowners whose goals align well with obstructionism

[–] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 20 points 6 months ago (1 children)

While the flag was up, the court was still contending with whether to hear a 2020 election case, with Justice Alito on the losing end of that decision. In coming weeks, the justices will rule on two climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, including whether Mr. Trump has immunity for his actions. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election and his chancesfor re-election in the upcoming one.

“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to The Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

It’s cool, guys, he had nothing to do with it. /s

[–] BajaTacos@lemm.ee 8 points 6 months ago

The sign purportedly said "my neighbor and his wife are authoritarian douchebags."

[–] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Judicial experts said in interviews that the flag was a clear violation of ethics rules, which seek to avoid even the appearance of bias, and could sow doubt about Justice Alito’s impartiality in cases related to the election and the Capitol riot.

Jokes on you, experts! The Supreme Court didn’t have ethics rules back in 2021. Checkmate!

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 13 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Holy shit. That should be immediate dismissal.

[–] silence7 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The US only has one non-lethal way to remove a federal judge: impeachment. And that requires a 2/3 vote in the Senate, which won't happen any time soon because the Republicans there favor his support of treason.

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 7 points 6 months ago

Oh I know. But there's gotta be a line somewhere that triggers immediate vacating.

Its just more ridiculous every day.

[–] lemmus@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago

The American far-right is surprisingly disrespectful of the flag.

[–] AlwaysNowNeverNotMe@kbin.social 1 points 6 months ago

More pictures of supreme court justices houses pls.