Legal expert draws 'direct line' between Justice Alito's MAGA flag and Trump immunity case
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is under fire after the flag outside of his home was flown upside down, a symbol adopted by the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rallygoers.
The U.S. Flag Code outlines: "The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property."
Alito blamed his wife for the move, saying she was upset at lawn signs with swear words. Several signs popped up around the election, reading, "f--- Trump." She complained that children waiting for the bus saw the vulgar word.
It has now been revealed that there were no students at the bus stops because school was virtual due to the pandemic.
"If you want to connect the image that you saw, you don’t have to look far," said former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann. "If you look at what Alito said in the immunity argument — the argument was should a president be subject to the criminal laws. And it was unbelievable. Somebody who is a U.S. attorney, now sitting in the Supreme Court of the United States, took the position, we cannot trust DOJ, we cannot trust a grand jury of citizens, we cannot trust the criminal justice system, which by the way, he oversees the constitutional limits on what the government can do, we can’t trust that and that’s why a president should be immune."
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He said that there is a "direct line" to the oral arguments in that case
"This is not like his wife happened to be doing something," Weissmann said. "Because you can tie it to his rhetoric and positions in the court."
Host Nicolle Wallace confessed she didn't know what it meant when she saw the upside-down flag being carried around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
"This is in the view of the insurrectionists. This was their symbol that day," said Wallace.
She later noted that Chief Justice John Roberts has the power to hold the justices to the same standards as other judges, but he has been unwilling to do so.
She counted off rules such as "employees of the Supreme Court may not engage in partisan political activity, partisan political activity related to elections contested by political parties. For example, employees may not publicly support or oppose a partisan political organization or candidate."
Another is that "employees may not engage in nonpartisan activity if it could reflect adversely on the dignity or impartiality of the court or interferes with the duties."
Wallace said that the "upside-down flag is associated with one of the two parties, Trump supporters, at the Capitol that day and absolutely makes it impossible for that body to be dignified."
Weissmann agreed and pointed out the absurdity of Alito's excuse, blaming it on his wife.
"Can we consider for a moment what Justice Alito's defense is here?" he said. "Understanding that because of the photo, he can't just say it didn't happen. Let's even assume his wife put it up, and take that as a given. Even though we just have the statement, there's lots of reasons to think — it's his lawn. But he didn't see it?"
Wallace noted that Alito never said in the statement that he didn't see it, only that his wife did it.
"It's up for days. He never saw that? I mean, he didn't talk to his wife? He didn't see the flag? He didn't think, maybe I should take this down? Remember the environment we were in. Let's go back to Jan. 6th. What was going on in Washington? I mean, I keep saying this about the judges who have these cases; everyone who was in Washington lived it. It was happening there around them."
He explained that he doesn't think people who weren't there can fully understand how central Jan. 6 was to those who live in America's capital and "how shocking" it was "even for us just watching it on TV."
"And he didn't think, maybe I should take this down?" asked Weissmann. "I mean, and then the response, I'm doing this in response to what? How is putting a 'Stop the Steal' flag that you know about, you are not taking down, how is that somehow justified by a neighbor?"
"My neighbor is mean; I'll side with the treason party," Wallace quipped.
Weissmann wondered what would happen if the neighbor promoted Joe Biden.
"That means you put up this flag as a sitting Supreme Court Justice? It is so much, 'Might makes right.' It is such a denigration of what should be a court that people revere."
See the discussion below or at the link right here.
Part 1:
Part 1 www.youtube.com
Part 2: