Sen. John Cornyn is staking out a position on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s flag controversy that has put him at odds with Democrats — and some fellow Republicans.

“I just think Democrats are determined to harass members of the Supreme Court,” the senator from Texas told CNN, adding:

I don’t see them criticizing Sotomayor, Kagan, or others. So obviously, they don’t like Justice Alito or the decisions he makes. And this is just part of long-standing harassment of the courts, going back to when Clarence Thomas was — talked about a high-tech lynching during his confirmation process.

Cornyn’s comments came after The New York Times reported that a second flag with a Jan. 6 association was seen outside an Alito home, this time his vacation home in New Jersey last summer. Alito’s vacation home in New Jersey last summer. The Times revealed last week that an upside-down American flag — a symbol carried by Donald Trump’s supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — was flown outside Alito’s Virginia house in the days before Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Alito’s explanation for the upside-down flag was that his wife put it there during a neighborhood dispute. But the revelation that one of the country’s most powerful public officials — who is set to rule on key Jan. 6-related cases — had not one but two antidemocratic symbols displayed on his properties has sparked a firestorm.

Democrats are calling for Alito to recuse himself from cases related to Jan. 6 and the 2020 election. Though Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell bemoaned “nonstop attacks on the Supreme Court,” there has been gentle criticism of Alito from GOP senators as well.

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Republicans have previously been dismissive of justices’ ethics controversies, so the fact that some of them are now criticizing Alito shows how bizarre these flag incidents are.

Not to Cornyn, though.

“People who are judges on the Supreme Courts have personal lives, they have families,” the Senate Judiciary Committee member said. “And I don’t think they’re necessarily responsible for everything their families do or say.”