Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urges Senate to launch ‘active investigations’ into Justice Samuel Alito Jan. 6 flag reports

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, on Wednesday called on Senate Democrats to launch an “aggressive investigation” into two separate reports that a flag linked to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was flying outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

“What we’re seeing here is not only an extraordinary breach of the trust and status of the Supreme Court, we’re seeing a fundamental challenge to our democracy,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday.

“Samuel Alito recognizes the same people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th and will now preside over a trial that will have profound implications for the participants in that rally.” Casio-Cortez added. “And while this is a threat to our democracy, Democrats have a responsibility to protect our democracy.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s comments came after The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the flag flown by rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was at one point flying outside the vacation home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

The Times reported that the sign, whose origins date back to the Revolutionary War but is today associated with Christian nationalism and “stop the steal” efforts, was seen flying outside Alito’s New Jersey shoreline home in July and September 2023, around the same time that the high-profile Jan. 6 case reached the Supreme Court.

The report came just days after The Times reported that an upside-down American flag had been flown outside Alito’s Virginia home in January 2021, around the same time that rioters stormed the Capitol as Congress was about to certify the results of the 2020 election, in which Joe Biden won against former President Trump.

The upside-down flag is also associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement, which was born out of false claims of election fraud in 2020. Alito said his wife put up the flag during an argument with neighbors.

In an interview Wednesday, New York progressives said Democrats, who have a slim majority in the Senate but a minority in the House, should wait until the next election to investigate Mr. Alito in hopes of winning both chambers. He said it was not.

Ocasio-Cortez said Senate Democrats should immediately launch an investigation.

“Since the Senate is a Democratic majority, I don’t think we need to wait until the House is a Democratic majority,” she said, adding, “The Senate has the gavel to direct the proceedings. Subpoenas should be issued. There should be an active investigation.”

She said Democrats now have a majority in the House and are preparing to launch a “broader effort to stand up” for democracy, but “I also believe that when Democrats have power, they have to use it.”

“We can’t be in campaign mode forever. We have to get into governing mode. We have to get into accountability mode with every tool that we have,” she continued, “because we can’t take a Senate majority, a House majority or the White House for granted.”

“And every minute counts, and we have to use our power when we have it.”