Put out more flags: SCOTUS controversy is about much more than 'Appeal to Heaven'

Don’t get caught up in the soap opera featuring the wife of a Supreme Court justice and the radical flags flying outside their home. The Alito controversy is about much more than a flag.

It is a sign of deep-seated extremism being practiced by a Supreme Court justice and the conservative supermajority on the high court. 

It is clearly wrong for any American court of law to elevate personal political beliefs and religious dogma above all.

We can debate about flying an offensive flag. But there is no debating the wrong in asking Americans to close their eyes to money flowing to the justices with an agenda of undoing the promise that America is a nation governed by laws, not rich men.

The abuse taking place at the court is the real red flag, and no secret.

Marquette University Law School polling last month reported that a majority of Americans, 56 percent, said the justices are now driven by politics instead of the laws of the land.

Overall, 61 percent of Americans who are registered to vote said they disapprove of the current Supreme Court.

Democrats in Congress are reflecting public alarm over the court by asking ethically compromised justices to recuse themselves from pending political cases. 

The Democrats are specifically pointing to the case involving Donald Trump’s claim to immunity from prosecution for possible criminal actions he claimed were taken while he was president.

Congressional Republicans are as indifferent to an upside-down flag as they are to the court going sideways.

They have blocked efforts by the Democrats to establish ethics rules for the court. They say Democrats simply do not agree with conservative rulings.

The Republican leader in the Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dismissed the Democrats’ concern about possible corruption at the court as a disguise for “disgraceful bullying.” 

McConnell’s dismissal of Congressional action leaves the justices free of being held publicly responsibility for scandalous behavior.

Republicans even oppose calls for Chief Justice John Roberts to testify in Congress about the “unethical conduct of several justices,” in the words of Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).

Democrats are left to now debate legislative efforts to remake the court, including possible term limits or expanding its size. They are also looking at how gifts to the justices are treated under tax law.

In the House last week, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, introduced legislation to hold the court accountable. But with the GOP in the majority, they lack the power to call out troubling behavior by the justices. 

Ocasio-Cortez argued that congressional failure to address the problems among the justices means that the court, a co-equal branch of government under the Constitution, now reigns “supreme,” over the White House and Congress.

“We must treat this moment like the emergency it is and use every tool in our democracy’s arsenal to fight back” she said. “The future of democracy depends on it.”

Last week, Ocasio-Cortez’s argument gained steam when recordings of Justice Alito were made public by activist Lauren Windsor, who taped Justice Alito seemingly agreeing with her assertion that people who believe in God have to “return our country to a place of godliness.” 

In his own words, Alito said “One side or the other is going to win…there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised.”

After the tapes went public, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said: “Alito is becoming a loose cannon turned on the court itself.”  

On tape, Alito’s wife promised revenge against critics, disparaged gay and lesbian Americans, and espoused more right-wing views consistent with the message of the flags flown outside the Alitos' residences.

More of the damage to the court revealed itself in recent days when Justice Clarence Thomas revised his financial disclosure statements to admit that lavish trips he took were paid for by billionaire Harlan Crow.

Crow has also paid for the renovation of a home where the justice’s mother lives and tuition for a relative.

In addition, “Fix the Court,” a group tracking gifts to the justices found that since 2004 Justice Thomas took in more than $4 million in the form of 193 gifts and there are another 126 “likely but not confirmed gifts.”

“Supreme Court justices should not be accepting gifts, let alone the hundreds of freebies worth millions of dollars have received over the years,” said Gabe Roth, representing “Fix the Court.”

There is also pressure on Thomas due to his refusal to recuse himself in a case dealing with the January 6 violence at the Capitol. Thomas’s wife had advised Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on how to overturn the election results.

McConnell’s claim that the obvious trouble at the court is due to Democrats' distaste for conservative rulings is a distorted reality, seen through partisan eyes.

Take another look, sir. This is way bigger than any soap opera over flags.

Juan Williams is an author and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.