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By Gabe Whisnant
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Conservative editorial magazine National Review is facing backlash online for selling flags honoring embattled Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
According to the magazine, one flag is loosely based on the "Appeal to Heaven" flag commissioned by George Washington during the American Revolution. The other is based on the Bennington battle flag, a banner associated with a revolutionary battle that took place in Vermont in 1777.
Both flags prominently feature a photo of Alito who has faced calls for his impeachment over the controversy surrounding the inverted American flag seen flying outside the justice's home in Virginia in January 2021 just days before President Joe Biden's inauguration.
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In a recent statement emailed to The New York Times, Alito placed all the responsibility on his wife, Martha-Ann Alito. The justice wrote he "had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag" and that it was "briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs."
In addition, Alito faces heat about his wife also displaying the "Appeal to Heaven" flag outside the couple's New Jersey vacation home in 2022, which had become a symbol of the "Stop the Steal" campaign aimed to overturn Biden's 2020 election win against Donald Trump.
"National Review is delighted to announce new 'Alito flags' based on honored colonial-era American flags and fashioned to show support for the Supreme Court justice," National Review published in a Friday article in a promotion of the flags.
National Review publisher Rich Lowry called the banners, which cost $197, "beautiful flags" that "hearken back to some of the most stirring symbols of the American Revolution."
The magazine's promotion mentions the recent controversies surrounding Alito and his wife.
"Both are perfectly suited for showing you have the back of Justice Alito as he comes under sustained attack for flags flown by his wife Martha-Ann Alito; for demonstrating a commitment to originalist jurisprudence; for rejecting politically motivated calls for Alito and other conservative justices to recuse themselves; and yes, for — as circumstances warrant — trolling obnoxious left-wing neighbors who engage in political provocations and then play the victim," the advertorial article states.
In a social media promotion of the flags on Friday, National Review added: "Democrats have gone too far with their attacks on the Supreme Court and it's time to take a stand."
Newsweek has emailed the National Review's director of sales Saturday morning for comment. This article will be updated with any provided statements.
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The new Alito flags, meanwhile, were met with backlash on social media.
Former Republican and former Representative Denver Riggleman of Virginia wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday: "This is just bizarrely embarrassing and infantile. Unserious."
Journalist Matt Ford of The New Republic seemed to allege that the National Review defaced the American flag.
"Congratulations to the American left on winning football, Bud Light, and the undefaced Stars and Stripes in the culture wars," he wrote on X.
Lawyer Alex Aronson wrote on X, "By all means, National Review, go ahead and print flags reminding the country that Alito is an insurrectionary theocrat. Could we make up an easier villain if we tried? Was this really least evil looking image they could find? He even looks like Professor Snape."
Meanwhile, Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse sent a letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts requesting that Alito recuse himself from Trump v. United States in response to the recent controversy.The case centers around the former president's claims that presidential immunity should protect him from criminal prosecution.
Since individual justices decide whether to recuse themselves from a case, Alito responded directly to the senators in a letter dated May 29 and told them that he refused to do as they asked because the incidents they cited did "not meet the conditions for recusal."
In his letter, the justice wrote that his wife had a "legal right to use the property as she sees fit" and repeated claims about how upset she was over a "very nasty" dispute with neighbors at the time.
"I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention. As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused," he wrote.
Alito also said he was not aware of the connection between the inverted flag and the "Stop the Steal" movement.
Addressing the "Appeal to Heaven" flag, the justice added: "I recall that my wife did fly that flag for some period of time, but I do not remember how long it flew. And what is most relevant here, is I had no involvement in the decision to fly that flag."
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