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Fundamental principles. Another day, another flag. Tonight, stunning new reporting that Supreme Court Justice Samuel alito has been caught flying another favorite flag of the insurrection outside his second home. Then the man has an Ankle Bracelet and cant leave the five boroughs because he always has to be in court. Congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez. And is it a Campaign Gaffe if you dont understand what you said . Do you support any restrictions on a persons right to contraception . Were looking at that. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york, i am chris hayes. There is another flag. Last week we got the Bombshell News that the household of a Supreme Court Justice Samuel alito had flown an upside down American Flag in the days after january 6, according to the flag code of 1942 that should only be done as a signal of dire distress and extreme danger to life or property. After the 2020 election and in rightwing circles that symbol, the upside down flag, became widely associated with Donald Trumps attempted coup. The idea being that the election being stolen from trump, which it wasnt, had cast the nation into dire distress. In this respect that upside down flag was an endorsement of the big lie false claims of a stolen election and it was infamously flown at the deadly insurrection itself. In a terse statement to the New York Times Justice Alito confirmed the upside down flag flew at his house, later claiming in an interview with a friendly outfit that his wife inverted the flag following an argument with liberal neighbors. He still did not explain why a sitting Supreme Court justice had a coup flag flying over his home. This was a genuinely shocking story. I think on its face enough to require alito to recuse himself from the monumentally important january 6 cases currently sitting before him on the word. On the court. Not to mention that alito is radicalized as many of us suspected him to be. But i will admit i did not expect this to be a drip, drip, drip kind of scandal that unfolds in multiple parts and multiple news cycles. There are other cases where a person comes forward to accuse someone prominent of Sexual Misconduct that you think there are probably other people out there, similar allegations. Or a different Supreme Court justice is caught taking gifts from extremely wealthy right wing benefactors, then it is probably fair to assume it was not an isolated incident. I did not think that would be the case with the right wing flag, but it turns out i was wrong. Because this afternoon in a followup story for the New York Times the same reporter revealed that alito flew this other right wing flag over his other house last year. Photographs obtained by the New York Times along with accounts from a halfdozen neighbors show that the appeal to heaven flag was at the home on Long Beach Island in july of 2023. A Street View Image from late august also shows the flag. He has the flag in his google street view photos. That is the google image from august, 2023. So the flag gained notoriety because it also hangs out in the office of Speaker Of The House mike johnson. You see it on the right. It has been around since revolutionary times, but it has grown closely associated with the christian nationalist movement, including the title of the book by a guy named dutch sheets, a trump supporter and election denier and one of the most influential christian nationalists in the country. He helped turn the flag into a rallying symbol among right wing groups in this country. The appeal to heaven flag goes back to the revolutionary war, george washington. It was inspired by john locke. But over the past 10 years the appeal to heaven flag has been popularized by dutch sheets. He sees the flag is a symbol of christian revolution. If you look at january 6 you will see dozens of appeal to heaven flags. It may have a long history, but in a contemporary context it has a very specific meeting. Specific meaning. Hes right, it was all over the capital on january 6. Look. While i dont think it is quite as vile of a symbol of the inverted flag, i think it is fair to say and explicitly political statement, right . And unlike the first case where one can take a normal American Flag and turn it upside down because, i dont know, you got in a fight with the neighbors, still working on that. In this case he has to a first acquire the flag and then take the action to fly it at his vacation home. Not so easy to explain away because you got in a tiff with another set of neighbors or to blame on your wife. This on its own would be cause for sanction for any federal judge who flew it. If you are not on the Supreme Court and you did this, you would get in a lot of trouble. This time he did not offer a statement to the New York Times. He clearly thinks he can get away with this and anything else, much like the ex president who he seems to want to bail out of trouble. He thinks he can act with total immunity. He thinks he is covered by the veneer of nonpartisan jurisprudence and protected by Lifetime Tenure and who is going to find enough republican senators to impeach him . What the story reveals is what we already know about alito. He has an ideological zealot and a partisan who puts his own personal politics before the law and apparently he thinks so little of us, the american people, he does not even have the decency to pretend to hide it. Senator Richard Blumenthal is a democrat from connecticut on the Judiciary Committee and he joins me now. I saw some of your comments about the upside down flag. What is your reaction to this latest story about another right wing flag flying over another alito house . I wish i could say i was surprised, but i am not. Because this political statement, make no mistake, this flag is a political statement. It is part of a pattern. This political statement is, in effect, support for donald trump for a religious strand of the stop the Steel Movement and for theological vision of what america ought to be and how it ought to be governed, which is okay for speaker johnson to fly outside his office. Hes a politician. Supreme Court Justices are supposed to be above reproach and above politics and i am sad, really sad and shocked to say that Justice Alito is rapidly showing himself to be unfit to serve on the United States Supreme Court. At a minimum he has to recuse himself from these cases coming before the court that will determine whether or not trump is held accountable. There are two cases. There is the obstruction of an official proceeding, which dozens of january 6 rioters and insurrectionist were charged with. Called for his recusal, which i guess is a good start, but it feels like we are at constitutional loggerhead with the checks and balances between the branches. Obviously judicial review is important and the court can strike down things that you and your colleagues pass. They can stop the president from doing things. It seems we have evolved into a situation where there is no check on the backend for the art. There is a nomination process, but once they are on there, what can the senate do . What can anyone do if he decides tomorrow hes going to put up a maga flag were come into arguments with a trump 2024 face tattoo . Or if he and Justice Thomas continue to take gifts and benefits and trips and other kinds of payments, in effect violating basic norms. Well, number one, the Supreme Court is already subject to a Code Of Ethics, so congress can take that action. I know my republican colleagues are not going to vote for a Code Of Ethics, but here is what can be done and should be. Chief Justice Roberts ought to be summoned to a hearing before the Judiciary Committee of the senate. He ought to show some leadership and be held accountable. Of course, Justice Alito ought to be subpoenaed as well in my view, but likely he is not going to appear and i think it is a time of reckoning for the congress. Justice alito says the congress cant regulate, to use his term, the Supreme Court. But the congress set salaries. It sets rules of procedure. It sets the numbers of justices. The founders didnt want the United States Supreme Court to be above the law. It is the highest court, but Justice Alito is showing himself not only unfit to be a justice because he is disregarding ethical norms, but as you and all of us know, he has disregarded basic precedents. A total disregard for the president of roe and other measures that take away our basic rights. I do think having john roberts come before your committee is a good start and i think he should have to answer for what exactly the code of conduct and ethics, given my understanding and my final question for you, this would not be allowed for any federal judge at a lower level, right . It would be a violation of the current Code Of Ethics that applies to all of the other federal judges and that is why i think the judicial conference ought to take action to investigate. Has that power. If the congress one day at the organization of judges established by the congress ought to do it because any other judge would be investigated. It sounds like he might get that face tattoo anyway. Senator Richard Blumenthal, appreciate it. Thank you. His latest pieces titled Justice Alito is a true believer. His latest piece asks why was alito flying the flag upside down after january 6 . They join me now. Well, well, well, gentlemen. Today is one of those days. I did not see it coming. I did not see flag number two dropping today, but here we are. Reactions to sing that story pop up in the New York Times . My reaction to the latest ray wasnt as strong as my reaction to the first story which i found truly shocking. It is shocking that any federal official would fly and upside down flag at their home. This story only confirms that the explanation given in the first story, that it was my wifes doing, she got angry, that just confirmed that that is probably not true and Justice Alito is more than aware of the flying of the previous flag and i would say most likely endorses the message of both flags. I want to double down. Congress does have the power of the purse with the court and one thing congress could do to discipline the court is simply take away Justice Alitos clerks. Take away his office. Take away the things that make his job easier to do. If there are not going to be term limits, after a certain age you start taking away their clerks and then they have to work for a living like everyone else. Adam, you wrote this piece about the psychology of this and i want to read this because i feel in some ways the most unnerving and fascinating part of this is the psychology. His motives matter. Jurisprudence hinges on sympathy or lack thereof. That was clear before the symbolic gesture of public sympathy. The revelation offers insight to alitos interpretation of the events of january 6 and the approach he has taken on related matters since. The question i have is i think why is pretty fascinating. He has a lot of power. He does not have to affirmatively troll everyone or play this kind of Catch Me If You can game with the flags outside his house and yet he is doing it why . I think that is an interesting question. A report in the Washington Post a couple of years ago quoted an anonymous conservative legal analyst who said something along the lines of alito has a particular constituency. Which is an Odd Statement because judges are not supposed to have constituencies. They are supposed to strive to be apolitical. But i think that sort of get that what we are talking about here because alito sees himself as the voice of real america on the court. His judicial opinions reflect essentially his view of what the Conservative Movement believes. He sees himself as their representative, so wherever they go, he goes and it doesnt matter how deranged the place that they go is, he is apparently going to follow. To go back to the point you just made, jamelle, about checks. Youve written about this in a number of columns and you and i have discussed before that of various moments the arrangement, the equilibrium has been renegotiated and resettled because there have been points where it got out of control and i feel like we are approaching one of those moments. With the court having this case before them, the sort of get out of jail free card they could offer their guy. I think it is fair to conclude that trump is alitos guy. That there is a sort of crisis in front of us. I think that is absolutely right. It is clear that this conservative majority in the court has no real regard for anything but its own narrow ideological and in Justice Alitos case, partisan interests. That should necessitate for the rest of us in the public and certainly for members of congress an effort to stipulated. Legislation is not going to be passed because of the current balance of congress, but there are other levers congress can use. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. Not just issuing subpoenas or a request to Justice Roberts, but really demanding that justices speak before the committee. That justices are not above the constitutional system and one of the things i think we are seeing right now is the extent to which some justices, specifically Justice Alito, believe they are not just a member of the highest court, but that they are literally above the entire constitutional system and no longer subject to any checks, any balances, any accountability. Adam, what do you think . I think it is a real problem when you have, on the nations highest court, a person who has fundamentally expressed sympathy with an attempted coup and is now considering, at this very moment, considering cases that would affect the prosecution of people responsible for that coup. This is someone who should not be eligible for a low level security clearance, let alone a Lifetime Appointment to the highest court. This is a man who has not believed in the constitutional order. He has shown he does not believe in the order he has sworn an oath to uphold, he only believes in the political and social domination of people who share his beliefs and i think it is very difficult to draw any other conclusion at this point. We have not heard the fight from the neighbors, i will say, so we might get the full story. Jamelle bouie and adam serwer, thank you very much. My next guest says congressional probes of Justice Alito could be on the way. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez will join me after this. It even works on colors. I slide tackled. I see that. Tide oxi white. Smile you found it. The feeling of Finding Psoriasis cant filter out the real you. So go ahead, live unfiltered with the one and only sotyktu, a oncedaily pill for moderate to severe Plaque Psoriasis, and the chance at clear or almost clear skin. Its like the feeling of finding youre so ready for your closeup. Or finding you dont have to hide your skin just your background. 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