Some of Justice Samuel Alito’s central claims about why his wife raised a flag aligned with the Jan. 6 insurrection on their property are being questioned in light of recent reporting.
In an interview with CNN, Emily Baden, the neighbor involved in a dispute with Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, challenged the justice’s timeline of events and denied that she instigated any confrontation between them.
Alito has repeatedly said that his wife installed an upside-down U.S. flag outside their Virginia home in response to a verbal dispute between her and a neighbor in January 2021. But Baden told CNN on Wednesday that her confrontation with Martha-Ann Alito took place on Feb. 15, nearly one month after the flag was seen outside the Alitos’ home on Jan. 17, as reported by The New York Times.
Baden told NPR that Martha-Ann Alito called her and her now-husband a “fascist” during the February argument, prompting Baden to use the c-word. The justice remained quiet and the couple then walked away, Baden said.
Phone records obtained by CNN appear to confirm Baden’s timeline; they show that Baden’s then-boyfriend called the police on Feb. 15 to report the argument with Martha-Ann Alito, in which they accuse her of “unprompted” harassment. (MSNBC has not directly verified that evidence, and Alito did not comment to the Washington Post about its reporting on the discrepancies.)
The Times had reported some aspects of the apparent discrepancy between Alito’s account of the clash and Baden’s. The paper also confirmed with law enforcement the timing of their calls to police.
Alito has also said that his wife was upset because a neighbor put up a yard sign “attacking her personally.” But none of the signs Baden had on her lawn referred to the Alitos; one read, “You are complicit,” but as The Washington Post reported, the sign made no overt reference to Martha-Ann or Samuel Alito. “At best, he’s mistaken, but at worst, he’s just outright lying,” Baden told CNN about Alito. “Even if it were a valid excuse that they were having a dispute with a neighbor and that made them put the flag up, that timeline just disproves it. It just doesn’t make sense.” Alito has maintained that he had no involvement with either of the controversial flags seen outside his homes, and that both were put there by his wife. He has refused to recuse himself from cases before the Supreme Court that involve former President Donald Trump or individuals being prosecuted for their role in Jan. 6. But the new reporting casts doubt on Alito’s version of events and raises new questions about his wife’s motivation in raising flags embraced by election deniers in the wake of Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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