Justice Alito is Apparently in an Ongoing Fierce Political Rivalry with a Neighbor, Which Should Scare the Hell out of Us

This is judicial ill-temperament on steroids

Justice Samuel Alito’s excuses for hanging an American flag upside-down are both petty and absurd. But they may overshadow the underlying problem, which honestly is what should be scaring the hell out of all of us the most.

First, here’s the excuses, per news reports summaries:

Martha-Ann Alito hung the upside-down flag during a dust-up with a neighbor in Alexandria, Virginia, who had a lawn sign referring to Trump with an expletive near a bus stop during a the “heated time” of January 2021, Fox News anchor Shannon Bream said in an online post, citing a conversation with Justice Alito. Upset after the neighbor blamed her for Jan. 6 and used vulgar language, she hung the flag “for a short time," Bream wrote, saying Alito described some neighbors as “very political."¹

Alito said that a neighbor had posted a sign saying “F**k Trump” near a school bus stop and then a sign attacking his wife, Martha-Ann Alito. On a walk, the justice told Fox, the Alitos got into an argument with the neighbor, who used the term “c**t” at one point. His wife then flew the inverted flag.²

Alito also made a point to mention his neighbors are “very political”.

Let’s explore this a bit. First, a Supreme Court Justice actually had an upside-down flag hanging at their home for a period of time in January 2021, soon after the Jan 6 insurrection. This was during a time which the upside-down flag was an obvious and powerful symbol.

Hanging a flag upside-down is supposed to indicate “dire distress” or “extreme danger”, according to US Flag Code. In the wake of the 2021 certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory, an upside-down flag meant you were not recognizing that election’s legitimacy or suggesting that the election results were so damaging to the country that it was in “dire distress”.

Previously, this symbol hadn’t been utilized much; mostly in circumstances of intense protest, such as Native Americans protesting their treatment by the U.S. government. It was a largely forgotten or unheard-of way to express yourself politically. But then, like many previously dormant symbols and codes, it reemerged, along with the QAnon movement, to have its own special meaning, and became more popular. It was brought out by some progressives well after the Jan 6 insurrection to protest the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision (ironically), and again by Marjorie Taylor Greene after Mar-a-Lago was searched by FBI agents. But prior to Jan 6, 2021, this was an obscure method of protestation.

Never mind the fact that the Alitos knew what this symbol meant and utilized if for any purpose whatsoever, even as a frustrated homeowner trying to annoy their neighbor. This alone is unsettling behavior coming from a Supreme Court Justice with immense lifetime power. It basically means that they either ran in the same circles as insurrection sympathizers, or at least paid close attention to them via selectively chosen media. And it means a high-ranking official inside our federal government expressed an idea that is the antithesis of said government: that it is inherently illegitimate. That’s Civil War era stuff.

Unfortunately, perhaps I’ve gotten used to this, and accepted that fact that there is at least one insurrection sympathizer on the Supreme Court, so am now trying to adjust to having two of them. But I think more unsettling is that this was the result of a dispute with a neighbor. Why does this scare me the most?

Family Feuds

My fears stem mostly from the “judicial temperament” aspect of ideal Supreme Court justice characteristics. This is a “judicial temperament” issue on steroids. It isn’t just that maybe the Alitos lost their cool and tried to “get back” at their neighbor in this instance. It’s now knowing that this family feud exists suddenly illuminating Justice Alito’s recent erratic and extreme behavior.

I haven’t personally been in the middle of a family feud or intense dispute or rivalry with a neighbor. But I have been on one side of a mild one. And I have seen others in more intense disputes than myself. And I can tell you from my own feelings and observations, they can become all-consuming and transform one into a different person if one lets them.

One may stop making decisions about their family and property based on common sense or self-interest, and start focusing on how to retaliate in the most effective way against their rival. Much like the Hatfields’ and McCoys’ relationship spiraling out-of-control, rivalries between neighbors can get ugly and destructive.

It appears the Alitos have been in the middle of a spiraling ugly rivalry with a neighbor. I actually have some empathy towards them in this respect. If their accounts of the situation are true, this neighbor sounds like a complete and total nightmare. I might have called the cops on them a few times myself.

Powerful Outlets

But that’s kind of the point. My most extreme legal recourse would be to call the cops. I would perhaps be tempted to cause property damage, but I would not do that for fear of being caught and incarcerated, plus a basic functioning moral compass.

However, for a public official, the calculus is a bit different. You have some power. You might be tempted and able to use that power to get back at your rival. If you’re a county commissioner or a member of the zoning board perhaps you don’t vote to approve of the project they want to enact on their property. Or maybe you call up your sheriff deputy friend to lean on them a bit. This is, of course, assuming your moral compass isn’t functioning at 90-100%.

But the higher your public office ranking goes, the more outlet you have to address the psychosis induced by this rivalry. A Senator or Representative would be more able to demoralize their neighbor and quash their obstinance through their connections and resources than an average person. They could even decide to author a law that gets under the skin of their rival, just to show them up.

What could a Supreme Court justice do? Arguably more than anyone else, outside of the president. They could smack down laws or amend them to prove a point. They can inject their point of view into the nation’s construct in a way that only an extremely select few in history are able to. Wouldn’t that feel good to put your adversary and everything they stand for in their place? To show them who’s boss? If you want to make your rival uncomfortable and demoralized it certainly would.

Evolving Temperament

Sam Alito wasn’t known for being a fiery extremist until recently. He was the unassuming 2nd choice of George W. Bush in 2005, replacing Harriet Miers as a nominee, because she was highly unpopular across the political spectrum due to her perceived inexperience (this was back when high-minded things like experience mattered to lawmakers when confirming judges).

His professor at Yale had nothing but nice things to say about him. He was basically a fly that you would never consider hurting. Here are some of the things he said:

"very reserved and very insightful,"

“Sam was one of those students who you become friendly with because of their intelligence and personality,"

"He's a prince of a man, very thoughtful…much more like Supreme Court Justice John Roberts in temperament than Justice Antonin Scalia”

"Sam is a man of principle who will decide as he sees fit and not because he owes debts to anyone, not because other people want him to decide in a certain way,"

"He possesses many of the characteristics that people would want in a high court judge. He won't come to the case with a mind cluttered with beliefs. He will listen, read, think and then decide."

"He was, and is, a very modest person,"

"He's not flamboyant, not a showman in any sense of the word.”

“Sam likely will choose to exercise the unique authority of the court more rarely than other judges would be willing to."

I bolded the words that emphasize his perceived modesty and restraint.

It is true that his confirmation process was a bit rocky due to concerns about his ideology. He was opposed by many Democrats and civil liberty groups as being too right-wing. This was at a time when partisanship was getting more acrimonious and his final confirmation vote of 58-42 would actually be considered a blowout in this day and age. But even with these headwinds against his confirmation, he wasn’t known for his oppositional personality or volatile temperament. He was just a very conservative justice; to many, a bit too conservative.

A pre-confirmation news article went through the arguments for and against Alito that were being examined at the time, and included this statement:

When he disagrees, he is not prone to inflammatory language or frontal challenges to Supreme Court precedent.

He was a fairly highly-respected conservative judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for 15 years with strong legal convictions but general modesty.

Can we use the word “modest” to describe his temperament now? Is he or is he not currently “prone to inflammatory language or frontal challenges to Supreme Court precedent”?

It seems that there’s been an evolving arc to his temperament story. He has recently become known for being ill-tempered, thin-skinned to a fault, and openly disrespectful to precedent and the citizenry in general.

Has he been simply getting increasingly drunk with power? Is he getting crankier in his old age? Is Mrs. Alito been getting more and more on his nerves?

Upper Hand with the Gavel

Or has he been looking to one-up his “very political” neighbor, and the ideology they represent? It’s hard to say for sure, but the fact that he is using his neighbor as an excuse for displaying support for the overthrowing of a U.S. election is telling. For about the last 3-4 years, during the time from the 2020 election through today, Alito’s opinions and behavior have been increasingly confrontational and irritable. Any disputes with his neighbor may have started before then, but they were certainly intensified by the post-2020-election events that ensued, basically about the last 3-4 years.

He’s been in the public eye more during this time, bizarrely writing op-eds complaining about his lot in life as an oft-criticized public figure. Even going to Fox to explain his side of this flag story is remarkable for a Supreme Court justice. There used to be a bit of a buffer between them and direct media communications. But he’s been knocking down these barriers recently.

What else explains this recent noticeable shift to a more outspoken and openly arrogant arbiter of justice? Let’s just say that if I were Alito’s neighbor, I would not be appealing any legal disputes to the Supreme Court any time soon. But really, his neighbor is the least of our concerns if this personal animosity continues.

1. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/upside-flag-justice-alitos-home-blow-supreme-court-110352810#:~:text=Upset%20after%20the%20neighbor%20blamed,neighbors%20as%20%E2%80%9Cvery%20political.%22

2. https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/17/politics/justice-samuel-alito-flag-home/index.html