FILE – U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts speaks at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, in Lincoln, Neb., Sept. 19, 2014.
FILE – Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. Roberts’ response came in a letter to the senators a day after Alito separately wrote them and House members tohimself from major Supreme Court cases involving former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 rioters because of the flags, which are like those carried by rioters at the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“Moreover, the format proposed — a meeting with leaders only of one party who have expressed an interest in matters currently pending before the court — simply underscores that participating in such a meeting would be inadvisable,” he wrote. Alito has said the inverted American flag was flown by his wife amid a dispute with neighbors and he had no part in it. He said she also flew the “Appeal to Heaven” flag but was unaware of its ties to the Capitol rioters.