Justice Alito abuses our trust and abuses the media
How DARE we question their judgment?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of Justice Samuel Alito abusing the trust that I think most Americans want to have in the U.S. Supreme Court, even if we might disagree with some of its rulings.
An isolated ethical lapse is one thing, but Alito has stepped over the line time and again. I’m sick of his cavalier attitude when journalists catch him red-handed violating ethical standards. He blames everyone from his political opponents to his wife. And when he’s called out abusing his power, he talks only to friendly media outlets that don’t challenge his weak explanations.
The latest episode comes courtesy of The New York Times, which reports a second stop-the-steal flag flown outside Alito’s home. This flag, flown outside his vacation home in New Jersey, was seen by neighbors last summer. It’s an “Appeal to Heaven” flag that was flown not only at the January 6th speech by President Trump near the Washington Monument, but also carried by rioters who stormed the Capitol that day. It dates to the Revolutionary War, but these days has become a symbol for the so-called “stop the steal” movement.
I’ll pause here to point out – for the record - that the 2020 election was NOT stolen.
This latest revelation follows the Times report last week that an upside-down American flag was flown outside Alito’s home in Virginia right after the 2021 insurrection. It also has been adopted by the stop the steal wackos.
Last week, Alito released a terse statement to the Times blaming his wife for flying the upside-down American flag. And he blamed his neighbors for provoking his wife. He said the flag flew only “briefly”. How briefly? Five minutes? Three days? A week? He didn’t say. And he spoke to only one media outlet. You guessed it – Fox News – to try to further explain his inexplicable actions.
This is a classic Alito move. Last year, when the investigative journalism outlet ProPublica asked Alito for comment before publishing a story about his accepting luxury travel gifts, Alito abused that request for information by instead writing his response and sending it to the Wall Street Journal before ProPublica could publish. And the Murdoch-owned Journal ran Alito’s screed word-for-word, with no questions asked.
Shame on Alito and shame on Fox News and the Wall Street Journal for letting themselves get used.
How can we trust the Supreme Court when Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas are so hopelessly compromised?
I don’t know either man, but they sure come across as smug individuals who place themselves on a pedestal far above average Americans. They reek with indignation when caught in compromising situations. How DARE we question their judgment?
Something is wrong when…
I’ve mentioned this before, but as a journalist, I tried to maintain ethical standards so I could never be accused of crossing the line. My wife ran for a prominent political office 20 years ago while I was managing a local TV newsroom. I would not let my picture or name be used in her campaign literature. Our neighbors displayed her campaign sign, but our own front yard did not. I met with her opponent and explained how I would recuse myself from all coverage decisions about the race, delegating that to our capable assistant news director.
Although my wife probably would have preferred to have her husband at her side through a tough campaign, she understood and supported my decision to completely avoid her campaign. I didn’t want my independence questioned but more important I didn’t want our newsroom’s fairness questioned. I wanted to protect the institution.
So why do Ginni Thomas and Martha Alito not have the same understanding of who they are married to? It’s an appalling lack of awareness. Either that, or they just don’t care.
Something is terribly wrong when a TV news director in a medium market and his wife have a higher ethical standard than two members of the US Supreme Court and their wives. What does that say about our country and our Supreme Court?
What should happen next?
At a bare minimum, Justices Alito and Thomas must recuse themselves from the two election-related cases before the court. To do otherwise would be the epitome of arrogance. It would be a huge middle finger to America. It would be an abuse of their lifetime appointments.
Chief Justice John Roberts seems like a decent man who cares about the court’s legacy that is attached to his name. Perhaps he has tried reining in his renegade members who are doing so much damage to our country. If so, he’s failed spectacularly. His nice guy approach hasn’t worked. It’s time for Roberts to go rogue on Alito and Thomas and start shaming them publicly when they so spectacularly damage him, the court and the country.
I won’t hold my breath.
Proud to be a member of the growing Iowa Writers’ Collaborative.
Steve, as always, I appreciate your perspective.
I’m well aware of the Sotomayor books. I could easily find stories about it in the Times and WAPO. So I don’t agree that the mainstream media have ignored it.
I also recall this excellent piece written in the Post by an organizer of one of the book deals. It gives a different perspective.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/07/sotomayor-book-festival-mississippi-ethics/
Most important, there’s no bearing on cases currently before the court.
It is one thing to “hawk” your publications and quite another to fly American flags upside down, accept major gifts from those seeking favors or have wives supporting the January 6 insurrection. This is not a case for “both-sides ism”. John Roberts is either the weakest Chief Justice in memory or the Court has become an unmanageable group of political hacks.