Alito says wife displayed upside-down flag after argument with insulting neighbor

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito spoke to Fox News on Friday about the upside-down American flag seen flying outside his home in the days following the Jan. 6 Capitol protests, saying his wife displayed it in response to insults directed at her from a neighbor. 

Alito weighed in after The New York Times first reported on the story Thursday, in which it said the upside-down flag — a symbol adopted by some Trump supporters disputing the results of the 2020 presidential election — appeared outside Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, on Jan. 17, 2021. 

Alito said the saga in his neighborhood began in the days around Jan. 6, 2021, when a neighbor living down the street put up a sign that read "F--- Trump" about 50 feet away from a children’s bus stop. 

He said his wife, Martha-Ann, then spoke with those neighbors about the sign and the conversation was not well received. 

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Alito told Fox News those neighbors then put up a sign directly attacking his wife and personally blaming her for the events that transpired on Jan. 6 at the nation’s capital. 

He says during a walk in the neighborhood with his wife, one person who lived at the property with the signage then got into an argument with her – at one point calling her derogatory language "including the C-word." 

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Following that incident, Alito said Martha-Ann was distraught and decided to make some sort of statement by hanging the American flag upside down outside their home. 

Alito told Fox News he had no role in the flag decision, and it was flying outside their property only "for a short time." 

He added that he felt he had no right or ability to control or order around his wife and that some neighbors on his street have been "very political." 

The story surrounding the flag outside Alito’s home comes as the Supreme Court is deciding on former President Trump’s immunity case.