Another provocative flag was flown at another Alito home
Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel Alito, 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 to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald 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 neighbors and passersby, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September 2023. A Google street view image from late August also shows the flag.
The photographs, each taken independently, are from four dates. It is not clear whether the flag was displayed continuously during those months or how long it was flown overall.
Alito declined to respond to questions about the beach house flag, including what it was intended to convey and how it comported with his obligations as a justice. The court also declined to respond.
© 2024 The New York Times Company
