Betsy Ross and the Supremes
The news is little more than a constant churn of what’s new; what’s old; what’s changed – or what’s staying the same.
Some news stories, though, have what they call “legs.”
Sometimes I have a hunch about those.
Last month, when it was first reported in The New York Times that Martha-Ann Alito had raised a “Stop the Steal” flag outside of her suburban Virginia home, I honestly had that hunch about it being the first of many ongoing developments. (If you don’t believe me, ask my wife)
I arrived at that conclusion, in part, because Martha-Ann Alito just happens to be the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito.
In case you didn’t know what a “Stop the Steal” flag looks like, it’s an American flag, flown upside down.
You’ve never seen one of those?
Go to YouTube and search for videos of people storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. There are lots of folks holding upside-down American flags – claiming they’re trying to “Stop the Steal” of the 2020 presidential election – while they’re trying to Stop Democracy by denying simple mathematics, and of course, common sense.
That story would have ended, if Mr. and Mrs. Alito had claimed they’d accidentally flown their American flag upside down.
Instead, Justice Alito ignored the growing controversy. While I had a hunch the story would keep growing, Alito had his own hunch about the story – that it would blow over.
He was wrong.
The New York Times found a second mysterious flag at the Alitos’ beach house in New Jersey.
That flag, which has been associated with a Christian nationalist movement, was also on full display at the Jan. 6 riot.
The first response from Judge Alito about those flags was they had nothing to do with Jan. 6. The upside-down flag that had been flying outside of his Virginia home was the result of a dispute between some irritable neighbors and his wife – Martha-Ann.
That part of the story evaporated when it was reported that the neighbor-on-neighbor dispute took place AFTER the “Stop the Steal” flag was flown from the Alito flagpole.
I told you this story had legs!
Suddenly, Democrats in the U.S. Senate showed a keen interest in “FlagGate.”
Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts to force Alito to step away from Trump-related cases that are still pending before the Supreme Court.
Roberts declined.
Instead, Alito decided he’d reply himself.
In his letter, he not only refused to step away, he replied with some of the most hilarious language ever before written by a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
“Dear Senators Durbin and Whitehouse, he wrote, “I had nothing whatsoever to do with the flying of that flag. I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention.”
So far, so good. But he couldn’t stop there. He had to throw an accelerant on the alibis he was using to avoid any blame. “As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down…” he wrote.
Now, Alito was writin’ up a storm. So why not get carried away? “I asked my wife to take it down,” he wrote. “But for several days, SHE REFUSED.”
What’s that? Martha-Ann made the CHOICE to keep up that blasted flag. The CHOICE! (wink, wink)
Judge Alito, one of the architects of the demolition of Roe V. Wade, is now a champion for the cause of women – as long as the woman is in control of that flag that was hung upside down in front of his house.
He wasn’t done. “My wife is an independent-minded private citizen. SHE MAKES HER OWN DECISIONS, and I honor her RIGHT to do so,” he wrote – with no apparent understanding of how those words would be met by two Democratic senators who’ve known for years that Mr. Alito has never shown that kind of understanding for the nation’s women and their healthcare choices.
Al Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.