A New York Times report published on Thursday revealed that an upside down American flag, adopted by Trump supporters contesting the 2020 election results, was flown outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home on January 17, 2021.
According to interviews, the Alito neighborhood had been tense with conflict between Trump and Biden supporters. Around the 2020 election, one neighbor displayed an anti-Trump sign with an expletive.
Martha-Ann Alito apparently objected, according to her husband.
The half-dozen neighbors who saw the flag, or knew of it, requested anonymity because they said they did not want to add to the contentiousness on the block and feared reprisal.
The exact duration that the flag flew outside the Alito residence is unclear. In an email from Jan. 18, 2021, reviewed by The Times, a neighbor wrote to a relative that the flag had been upside down for several days at that point.
Turning the American flag upside down is a symbol of emergency and distress, first used as a military S.O.S., but has increasingly been used as a political protest.
During Trump’s mission to subvert the election, the upside-down flag became established as a “Stop The Steal” symbol.