Justice Samuel Alito Cannot Remain on the Court

Let us all stop pretending THIS isn’t happening and that this is all still normal.

Courtesy of the New York Times

Something inside me always thought — hoped maybe — that I was wrong. I hoped that these men and women presiding over the nation’s courts knew a bit more than I did about the law of the land to appreciate the need for partisan, ideological restraint. The post-January 6th flag, upside-down flag controversy has taken on a part two, and the sequel is much worse than the original.

Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs.

This time, it was the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms.

Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen…