Jody Kantor’s New York Times There’s a new report that takes a closer look at the Alito flag flap. This work probably should have been done before her original story was published. Now we have a little more background information. From my perspective, I’m not sure much will change. An altercation ensued between Mrs. Alito and her neighbor, and she hung the flag upside down as a symbol of pain. I still don’t see how Mrs. Alito’s decision has anything to do with some image of stopping the theft. But I’m sure “objective observers” will continue to see the “irregularities” they want to see.
What interests me is how aspects of this neighborhood feud intersect with two landmark free speech cases. Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.
After Jan. 6, neighbors erected a sign across the street from Alitos that read “You are an accomplice.”
Then January 6th came. ”. Emily Baden said in an interview that the second sign was not directed at the Alito family but at Republicans, particularly those who did not condemn the attack on the Capitol. . . . .
It was unclear whether Mrs. Alito saw the signs, but they said she pulled over when the couple parked in front of their home the day after the Capitol riot. She lingered there for a long time, glaring, the couple recalled, and they texted friends about the encounter.
Who is you? Justice Alito? Or Republicans in general?
this precise The focus of the debate is snyder v. phelps. Recall that Westboro Baptist Church held signs that read “God hates you” and “You’re going to hell.” Who does this sign refer to? Matthew Snyder? Or society as a whole? The majority of Chief Justice Roberts held that the sign did not refer to Only Refers to the Marines who were killed, but could also refer to wider society. In his separate dissent, Justice Alito held that the sign clearly referred to Matthew Snyder. Below is a summary of the dispute 100 cases:
Justice Alito wrote a separate dissent. He countered that some of the signs were directed at Matthew Snyder. For example, Matthew said, “You’re going to hell.” In addition to holding a sign at the funeral, Westborough also published what he called an “epic” blog post, addressing the Snyder family directly. During oral argument, Justice Alito said: “The epic specifically mentions Matthew Snyder’s name. [and] Matthew’s parents are specifically mentioned by name. For example, “You will go to hell”, “God hates you”. Who are you’? If you read this epic, you may understand who “you” are.
Chief Justice Roberts only considered the slogans at the demonstration. he observed “Even if there are signs – like ‘You’re going to hell’ and ‘God hates you’ – be deemed to contain information relating to Matthew Snyder or the Snyder family, this will not Changing the overall tenor and dominant themes of the Westerbro demonstrations was the fact that they concerned wider public issues. By limiting the facts in this way, Chief Justice Roberts made the case easier to decide than it actually was.
I suspect the Alitos thought the “accomplice” mark was directed against them – and specifically against Judge Alito. Trump is a fascist, Justice Alito is complicit. We rarely have a judge’s opinion on how to interpret pronouns on protest signs, but we do snyder v. phelps.
there are more. It turns out the neighbor had never actually seen the inverted flag!
Photos obtained by The Times show an upside-down flag hanging at Alito’s home on January 17. Neighbors said it had been parked for several days. They said if the purpose of the flag was to send a message to the Badens, whose home has no direct view of Alito’s residence, they missed it.
One of the greatest ironies snyder v. phelps Matthew Snyder’s family never actually saw the protest signs; external cemetery. The charge of intentional infliction of emotional distress only applies to media reporters at the protest. Here too, Mrs. Alito flew the flag as a symbol of pain, but it never reached its intended recipient.
As is the case with free expression and symbolism, messages are often missed and misunderstood—yet another reason we should all be wary of seeing the worst possible light on flags.
There is another SCOTUS intersection, this time it is Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire. In this case, Chaplinsky called a policeman a “fucking fascist.” The Supreme Court held that the speech was “militancy speech” and not protected by the First Amendment. As we all know, war talk is basically a piece of paper. It plays almost no role in the modern First Amendment. I sometimes joke with students that in today’s vulgar society, hitting someone in the face is unjustifiable. Justice Alito again cited with positivity Chaplinski exist Snyder:
This Court recognizes that words can cause harm “by their very utterance” and that the First Amendment does not protect speech that “does not form an essential part in the elaboration of any thought and is of such low social value as a step toward truth, Words that no one can accept.” The interests of social order and morality clearly outweigh the benefits they might bring. ” Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 US 568, 572 (1942); see also Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 US 296, 310 (1940) (“[P]Physical abuse is not an exchange of information or opinions in any proper sense protected by the Constitution”). When serious injury is intentionally caused by an attack like the one discussed here, the First Amendment should not stand in the way of recovery.
Back to the dead end. According to neighbors, Mrs. Alito used similar words to Mr. Chaplinsky:
Later, the conflict seemed to subside. But on February 15, as the couple was hauling the dumpster in, the Alitos appeared, appearing to be taking a walk. Mrs. Alito called the couple by their first names. Swearing and calling them “fascists” the couple told The Times at the time and in a text message. Judge Alito remained silent, they added. The Alito family began to walk away.
In response, neighbors called Mrs. Alito a word that begins with c- and rhymes with punt.
That’s when Emily Barden said she exploded. She didn’t remember exactly what she said, but she remembered words like: How dare you do this. You’ve been harassing us with your signs. You represent the highest court in the land. shame on you.
Ms Baden said she – and not her partner, as Judge Alito recalled – had used the obscene expression. “I would totally accept that,” she said. A neighbor standing in the street, who asked not to be identified because of the neighborhood friction, said he also heard her say the word.
Is calling someone a swearing fascist a fighting word? Would this justify the use of atomic bombs in response? Is calling someone a battle word using the c-word? I can’t understand what Judge Alito was thinking as he watched this happen. Randomly picking Trenton Steinert High School Class of 1968 and calling their wives the “c” word. See what happens. Judicial restraint will not become the norm today. (By chance, the district court judge I clerked for graduated from Steinert College several years before Justice Alito.)
Regardless, I think this story will have life as long as it gets people calling for Judge Alito to recuse himself. I think what we’re facing now is what we’ve been facing from the beginning: an ugly neighborhood altercation that shows no sympathy from the judge for “stop the steal.”
