Justice Samuel Alito’s wife shouted at a reporter telling him to 'get off my property' over flag issue in 2021

The Washington Post dropped the story at the time and didn’t believe that Justice Samuel Alito was involved
PUBLISHED MAY 25, 2024
Samuel Alito and his wife Martha-Ann had put the flag upside down after  a dispute with their neighbors (Getty Images)
Samuel Alito and his wife Martha-Ann had put the flag upside down after a dispute with their neighbors (Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC: As the flag controversy continues to heat up questioning Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's role in 'Stop the Seal' protests, a new report claims the inverted flag at Alito's house in 2021 was due to a dispute his wife had with their neighbors. 

The Washington Post dropped the story at the time and didn’t believe that the justice was involved, but now it has shed new light on the incident involving Alito’s wife Martha-Ann and the confrontation she had with The Washington Post’s Robert Barnes.

Martha-Ann Alito’s confrontation with Robert Barnes

Martha-Ann had a rather unpleasant encounter with Barnes who retired last year. He has worked with The Washington Post for 17 years, covering the Supreme Court.

Barnes had visited their home on January 20, 2021, to investigate a tip about the flag.

Robert Barnes formerly covered the Supreme Court for The Washington Post (@robert_a_barnes/X)
Robert Barnes formerly covered the Supreme Court for The Washington Post (@robert_a_barnes/X)

He ran into the couple as they were leaving the house. Martha-Ann Alito was visibly upset by his presence and demanded that he “get off my property," Raw Story reported. 

When he explained what he was looking for, she yelled, “It’s an international signal of distress!”

Barnes remembered Justice Alito stepping in, accompanying his wife to their car, and then returning to deny that the upside-down flag was a political protest.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito escorts his wife, Martha, back into the hearing room following a break during the third day of Alito's confirmation hearings January 11, 2006 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day, Mrs. Alito began to weep as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke during the hearing. Senators have questioned Alito heavily on his views about abortion and executive powers in the hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Donald Barnes remembered Justice Samuel Alito stepping in, accompanying his wife to their car, and then returning to deny that the upside-down flag was a political protest (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The protests were widely organized by President Donald Trump's supporters during the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot undermining Joe Biden's victory. 

Martha-Ann Alito blamed neighborhood dispute saying, 'Ask them what they did'

Martha-Ann Alito, according to the report, got out of the car and shouted at the neighbors saying, “Ask them what they did!” 

The publication reported she mentioned yard signs about the couple had been placed in the neighborhood over which she had disputed with them. 

After getting back in the car, she got out again and brought out a novelty flag from their house, the kind that would typically decorate a garden. She raised the flagpole and yelled, “There! Is that better?”



 

"I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. It was placed by Mrs Alito solely in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs,” Justice Alito stated at the time which he is repeating now. 

Internet asks what 'neighborhood dispute' has to do with placing flags upside down

The internet has since reacted to the story of the 2021 meltdown of Samuel Alito’s wife and the inverted flag controversy. One user on X wrote, “Him blaming his wife is sad.”

Another commented, “I used to think that the Supreme Court justices and their wives were the best of us, the most humane and impartial gods of logic and fairness. I had no idea they were the type to get in petty disagreements with the neighbors.”

Yet another argued, “What exactly does an international sign of distress have to do with a neighborhood dispute? It was a political statement reflecting the views of that household."

One more joked, "Sound's like an episode of Sheldon & Amy Cooper's Fun With Flags podcast gone horribly wrong."

"Her husband does not belong on the Supreme Court," wrote one more while another added, "Now I see why Covid Karen is inappropriate. It should have been Martha-Ann all along."



 



 



 



 



 



 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.

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