Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday declined an invitation to confer with Democratic senators about the controversy over the flag that flies outside the home of Chief Justice Samuel Alito.
Roberts responded to Democratic senators in a letter on Thursday, writing that he “respectfully declines” an invitation to meet to discuss ethics concerns surrounding Sen. Alito, who has flown an upside-down U.S. flag outside his Virginia home and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at his New Jersey vacation home.
“I must respectfully decline your request for an interview,” Roberts said in a response to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and the Judiciary Committee.
“As I wrote to Chairman Durbin last April, setting aside ceremonial occasions, it is a rare moment in our nation’s history that a sitting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has met with members of Congress, even in a public setting including a committee hearing attended by members of both major parties,” he said.
Supreme Court Justice Alito comments on flag case, says he will not recuse himself in Trump vs. January 6th case
Chief Justice John Roberts “respectfully declined” to meet with Senate Democrats in a letter Thursday. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Roberts said it would be “unwise” to attend the meeting with Senate Democrats and stressed the importance of the separation of powers between the Supreme Court and the Legislature.
“The issue of separation of powers and the importance of the Bar maintaining judicial independence in such an eventuality,” he wrote. “Furthermore, the proposed format – a meeting only with leaders of one party who have expressed an interest in cases currently pending before the Supreme Court – only underscores the unwiseness of participating in such a meeting.”
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Roberts’ response came the day after Justice Alito said he would not recuse himself from former President Trump’s immunity lawsuit or other cases related to the 2020 presidential election or the Jan. 6 Capitol protests because of flags similar to those flown by the rioters.
“Displaying an upside-down American flag, a symbol of the so-called ‘Stop the Steal’ movement, clearly conveys the appearance of bigotry,” Durbin said in a statement.
“Justice Alito should immediately recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection, particularly the issue of the former president’s immunity. United States vs. Donald Trump, The Supreme Court is currently considering the matter,” he asserted.
Justice Dick Durbin has requested a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts to encourage Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from election-related cases. (Getty Images)
In his response, Justice Alito wrote that the two cases “do not meet the conditions for recusal.”
“I had nothing to do with flying that flag,” he said of the Virginia incident.
“I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was pointed out to me,” Alito continued. “As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days she refused.”
Conservatives take up colonial flag and mock efforts to link Justice Alito with “MAGA battle flag”
“My wife and I co-own our home in Virginia,” Alito said, and she “has the legal right to use that property as she sees fit. There was no additional step I could have taken to have the flag come down sooner.”
Read Alito’s letter – App users click here:
In his letter, Alito wrote that his wife was “at that time experiencing great distress due to a very nasty neighborhood dispute in which I had no involvement whatsoever.”
“I am confident that any reasonable person, not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to influence the outcome of the Supreme Court’s decision, would conclude that the events described above do not meet the standard for recusal,” he told lawmakers. “I must therefore deny your request.”
The liberal media and Democratic Party leaders have used the classic colonial-era “Appeal to Heaven” flag to link Supreme Court Justice Alito to the January 6th rioters. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Alito also said he had “no involvement whatsoever in the decision” to display “a flag bearing the words ‘Appeal to Heaven,’ which will be displayed in the backyard of our vacation home in the summer of 2023.”
“My wife likes to fly the national flag. I do not. She is solely responsible for the erection of flagpoles at our residence and vacation home and has flown a wide variety of national flags over the years,” the justice said.
Alito said he was unaware of his wife’s “Appeal to Heaven” flag at the time, saying, “She may have said it dates back to the American Revolutionary War, and I assumed she was flying it to express a religious or patriotic message.”
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“She did not raise the flag to associate herself with that group or any other group, and the fact that a new group uses an old, historic flag does not necessarily erase all of the flag’s other meanings,” Alito concluded.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Senator Durbin for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman and Shannon Bream contributed to this report.
