Editor's note: CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public policy at Princeton University. He is the author and editor of his 25 books, including the forthcoming “Our Nation at Risk: Election Integrity as a National Security Issue.” Follow us on Twitter. Julian ZelizerThe opinions expressed in this editorial are his own. See more opinions on CNN.
CNN —
If Chief Justice John Roberts is truly an institutionalist — someone who cares deeply about the integrity of the Supreme Court and the public's perception of it — then he has a big problem.
This week, news broke that another controversial flag was flown at a home owned by Justice Samuel Alito, in this case a vacation home in New Jersey. This comes two years after the flag was flown outside the judge's Virginia home.
In the first incident, the U.S. flag was flown upside down for several days in the same manner that it was flown during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by people who falsely claimed the 2020 election was “stolen” from former President Donald Trump.
The New York Times, which first reported the upside-down flag, revealed on Wednesday that a “Call Him” ​​flag had been flown at Alito's beach house. The flag has also been used in “Stop the Steal” protests. The revolutionary-era flag has been revived in recent years by right-wing activists and politicians.
Alito claimed that his wife put up the first flag as part of a discussion with a neighbor and that he had no involvement in it, but he suspects the display had a more political meaning. There are many voices of concern. Alito has not commented on the beach house flag.
The flags raise questions about the extent to which Mr. Alito intends to publicly express his political opinions and how that will affect his legal decisions. The discovery also comes as the Supreme Court is ruling on President Trump's claim of blanket presidential immunity, a get-out-of-jail-free card against the federal lawsuits he faces. It is also considering a lawsuit challenging prosecutors' use of obstruction laws against people arrested on January 6.
The Alito controversy is not isolated.
The idea that the Supreme Court can be trusted to act as an arbiter above partisan politics has suffered a major blow in recent years: The politicization of the Senate confirmation process since the 1960s has made it increasingly difficult for the public to view justices as apolitical.
The subsequent solidification of a highly conservative 6-3 majority under the Trump administration further strengthened the perception in blue states that the Supreme Court was pursuing a political agenda under the guise of “principlementality.” The 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (written by Alito in the majority opinion), which overturned Roe v. Wade, reinforced the view that the Supreme Court was at the mercy of conservatives, who have been trying to weaken judicial support for abortion rights for decades. A poll conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center after the decision found that 53% of American adults were dissatisfied with the Supreme Court's approach.
Supreme Court decisions aren't the only issue. Investigative reporting on Justice Clarence Thomas' close ties to conservative donors who gave him lavish gifts has raised many eyebrows and raised questions about whether the justice can be perceived as impartial. There has also been talk about his wife, Virginia Thomas, who was involved at a high level in trying to overturn the 2020 election. Thomas' critics are infuriated that he did not recuse himself from the presidential immunity lawsuit. (This isn't the first time either: He failed to recuse himself from an earlier case involving the January 6th riot, despite text messages revealing his wife's involvement.)
Pressure mounted on Roberts to do something after news reports made it clear to many voters that SCOTUS was not subject to the same ethical standards as other federal judges. The court issued a code of conduct in November, but Democrats say it lacks enforcement and is subject to individual oversight by the court's nine members.
The Alito flag controversy is yet another blow to the Supreme Court's image. Until recently, the Supreme Court has survived the distrust that has faced every other U.S. federal political institution since the Vietnam War and Watergate. The latest revelations about the Supreme Court are a terrible setback in efforts to restore the government's standing with voters.
According to the Pew Research Center, positive sentiment toward SCOTUS is lower than at any time since it began tracking the numbers in 1987.
The American people need to know that the nation's highest court will not be biased when making decisions. That's especially true when he's trying a case involving Trump, the former president and current Republican candidate who has been accused of grossly abusing his power while in office. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
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The Supreme Court's public standing is not as strong as it was when Roberts took office in 2005. The court's reputation was weakened by its controversial decision to stop a Florida vote recount after the 2000 election and hand the presidency to George W. Bush. But controversy over the court was more limited then.
If Mr. Roberts is, as many of his supporters believe, committed to preserving the court's institutional integrity above all else, restoring the court's image should be a top priority. And Roberts begins by pointing out what his colleagues do outside of the courtroom, and how they draw a line between themselves and the hyper-polarized political world in which they live. We should be able to build strong fire walls.
Unless Mr. Roberts acts quickly and boldly, the Supreme Court will become just another piece of a divided world in which people of all political stripes have no confidence in the legitimacy of everything in public life. right.
