Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was asked about the report last week that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito had flown a “Stop the Steal” solidarity flag at his house during the period in which the court was considering 2020 election cases. Let’s be clear: Alito was not flying a pro-Trump flag but an anti-democracy, pro-insurrection flag. If that's not grounds for impeachment (and it should be), at the very least Alito should be required to recuse himself from any case related to January 6 or the 2020 presidential election.
But Alito has not recused himself from any such cases. That includes the current presidential immunity case that Donald Trump is using to try and wriggle out of the federal criminal case against him for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
If McConnell had any decency, he’d signal to Alito he should recuse himself. Instead, McConnell suggested that Alito deserves special protection to promote his open antagonism toward American democracy and the Constitution.
Even worse, McConnell blamed President Biden for not being more supportive of poor, persecuted Alito and the blatantly corrupt and likely law-breaker Clarence Thomas. Here’s McConnell’s loathsome response to a reporter asking if it was appropriate for Alito to fly his flag and whether he should recuse himself from related cases.
MCCONNELL: It seems to me there are just nonstop attacks on the Supreme Court week after week after week, and so I'm not going to dignify that with a response. We need to leave the Supreme Court alone, protect them from people who went into their neighborhoods and tried to do them harm. Look out for the Supreme Court, that’s part of the job of the administration.
Sen. McConnell is Exhibit A in why we can’t have nice things or even just a decent Supreme Court.
