There is no real precedent in American history for the situation surrounding Justice Samuel Alito.
To recap, we learned it last week that following the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol – the culmination of an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and keep Donald Trump in power in violation of the Constitution – a member of the Alito family took the plane. inverted American flag on a pole on the lawn of the family’s home in Virginia. The flag, traditional symbol of the navy distresshad been reconverted by the far right into an emblem of the “Stop the Steal” movement.
Justice Alito told the New York Times that his wife was responsible — that she had flown the flag in defiance of a neighbor’s provocation. Fox News later reported that the provocation was a sign blaming Ms. Alito for January 6. If this is true, it makes the choice to raise the flag even stranger.
However, the most remarkable part of Alito’s attempt to explain the flag was what he didn’t say. He did not condemn the flag, nor disavow its meaning, nor distance himself from the insurrectionists. He only said he was not to blame.
That’s where the scandal happened until Wednesday, when yet another story circulated about the Alitos, a house and a flag. Last summer, as shown in the photos obtained by According to the New York Times, the Alitos waved a “Call to Heaven” flag from their vacation home in New Jersey. This flag, like the reverse Stars and Stripes, was also carried by the Capitol rioters on January 6. The phrase “appeal to heaven” was used by Enlightenment philosopher John Locke in his “Second Treatise on Government” and refers to a right of revolution.
And where the body of the people, or a single man, is deprived of its right, or is subjected to the exercise of power without right, and has no recourse on earth, there he has liberty to do appeal to heaven, whenever he judges it. the cause of a sufficient moment.
The slogan was in circulation during the American Revolution, invoked by Patriot leaders as they pushed for independence. More recently, it has been adopted by the far right as a statement of resistance to the political and social order of the modern United States. They demand the right to revolution and, on January 6, they acted accordingly.
If waving one of these two flags was enough, along with his sympathetic attitude toward the insurrectionists during recent oral arguments, to raise suspicion about Alito’s allegiances, then waving both is as close as we’re likely to get to clear confirmation of his position, ideologically. , with the men and women who attempted to overthrow the Constitution in the name of Donald Trump.
I mentioned at the beginning that there was no precedent for this situation in American history. And there isn’t one. Although there were several current and former slave owners on the Supreme Court during the secession crisis of 1860, only one – John Archibald Campbell, appointed by Franklin Pierce – resigned from his position at the outbreak of hostilities in April 1861. Even then he opposed secession, although he eventually joined the Confederate government as assistant secretary of war.
Campbell was a rebel, but he didn’t act like one from the bench. He did not support efforts to break the Constitution while he was still in his robes. He did not use the power given to him by our constitutional order to try to defend those who wanted to destroy him.
If only the Alito family shared Campbell’s sense of propriety. Instead, we have two homes flying insurrectionist flags and a justice that flirts with a fundamentally unconstitutional theory of executive immunity, deployed to defend a man who attempted to disenfranchise the American public to choose its leaders.
Alito has yet to speak publicly about this particular flag. If Senate Democrats surprise us all and issue him a subpoena to appear before the Judiciary Committee, there’s a good chance he’ll refuse. He doesn’t believe, as he told the Wall Street Journal last yearthat Congress has the power to regulate the court.
But we don’t need him to talk to know where he stands.
What i have written
My Tuesday column was about Justice Alito and the role of sincerity in American politics.
Cynicism is as often a form of comfort as anything else. It is comforting, in a way, to believe that powerful people have more common sense than those they represent, work with, or attempt to appeal. It’s comforting to think that red meat is meant for someone else. The disturbing truth is that there is probably more sincerity than not in American politics. We may not want to believe it, but most leaders say what they mean and mean what they say.
My Friday column was about Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of immigrants if he is elected president a second time.
What is the plan, exactly? It begins, as (Stephen) Miller explained in an interview with Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA last year, about the creation of a national deportation force made up of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Border Patrol and other federal agencies, as well as the National Guard and local law enforcement. civil servants. The administration would give this deportation force the authority to scour the country for illegal and undocumented immigrants. He would travel from state to state, city to city, neighborhood to neighborhood and, finally, house to house, looking for people who Trump and Miller believe don’t belong. This deportation force carried out raids on workplaces and organized public raids, to create a climate of fear and intimidation.
Now playing
Mahmoud Mushtaha provides a first-hand account of his escape from the Gaza Strip for +972 magazine.
Isaac Chotiner interviews Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland on the State Department’s recent report on Israeli conduct during the Gaza war, for the New Yorker.
Sarah Birke and Carlos Bravo Regidor on Mexican democracy for the New York Review of Books.
The editors of the n+1 magazine on the images coming out of Gaza since the start of the war.
Luc Goldstein on the fall of Red Lobster for The American Prospect.
A men’s clothing store in downtown Petersburg, Virginia.
Currently being restored: Chopped herb salad with farro
Consider this my contribution to your Memorial Day broadcast. I love this salad. It’s nothing fancy, but it brightens up a plate and pairs really well with anything you might be grilling. And if your herb garden is wild like mine, this salad is a perfect way to use up some of that greenery. Recipe comes from NYT Cooking.
Ingredients
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2 cups chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (from 2 large bunches)
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¼ cup chopped fresh mint
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1 cup chopped arugula or a mixture of arugula and other herbs
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¾ pound (2 large) ripe tomatoes, very finely chopped
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1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
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1 cup cooked farro or spelled
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1 teaspoon ground sumac
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Juice of 1 to 2 large lemons, to taste
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Salt to taste
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¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
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Small leaves from a heart of romaine lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried
Directions
In a large bowl, combine parsley, mint, arugula and/or other herbs, tomatoes, green onions, farro, sumac, lemon juice and salt to taste. Refrigerate 2 to 3 hours so the farro marinates in the lemon juice.
Add the olive oil, mix, taste and adjust the seasoning. The salad should have a lemony taste. Add more lemon juice if not. Serve with lettuce leaves if desired.
Correction: An image caption in last Saturday’s newsletter incorrectly stated the film the image was taken from and the year it was released. This is 1970’s “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” not 1972’s “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.”
