Samuel Alito, the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court justice, flew an upside-down U.S. flag outside his home. This is a traditional symbol of distress now mostly used by election deniers and MAGA to symbolize authoritarian sentiments and their general disgust for modern America. In the context when it was flown—in the days after the Jan 6 sacking of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters—it was a specifically insurrectionist meme, if you care about that sort of thing.
After the 2020 presidential election, as some Trump supporters falsely claimed that President Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars and in online posts: an upside-down American flag.
One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors.
Finally challenged on it by The New York Times—"At Justice Alito's House, a 'Stop the Steal' Symbol on Display"—Alito blamed his wife: "I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs." But as The Atlantic noted, he declined to disavow it. He believes in it.
Can't have halitosis without alito.
