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WASHINGTON — Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito rejected on Wednesday requests by Democratic lawmakers to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election, including Donald Trump's bid for immunity from prosecution on federal criminal charges for trying to reverse his defeat.
Some lawmakers called for him to step aside from the pending cases after media reports that flags like those carried by Trump supporters during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol flew outside his homes in recent years. An upside-down American flag flew at his Virginia home, and one bearing the phrase "Appeal to Heaven" flew at his vacation house in New Jersey.
Alito said that in both cases his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, was responsible for flying the flags, and that he had no involvement.
The two incidents "do not meet the conditions for recusal" under the code of conduct adopted by the justices last year, Alito said in two letters sent to the lawmakers, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin.
The justices adopted the code following revelations last year that raised questions about their ethical standards.
