U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's former neighbor on Wednesday disputed his account of the neighborhood argument that he said led to his wife flying an upside-down flag on their property, saying the justice’s timeline is incorrect.
"At best, he’s mistaken, but at worst, he’s just outright lying,” Emily Baden said in an interview with CNN anchor Erin Burnett.
At issue was the upside-down flag — a symbol associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement — flying outside the conservative Supreme Court justice’s Virginia home 11 days following the January 6th insurrection. After the New York Times reported about the incident, Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann, flew the flag in response to a “very nasty neighborhood dispute.” The spat began over Baden placing an anti-Trump sign on her property. According to Alito, the dispute his wife had with Baden escalated until she called Martha-Ann a lewd word, which prompted Martha-Ann to fly the upside-down flag “briefly.”
But New York Times reporting contradicted Alito's timeline: A text message and a phone call to police indicate that the name-calling fight happened February 15, weeks after the flag was taken down from the Alitos’ home.
“There was a neighbor who even witnessed this and witnessed me using that unfortunate term,” Baden said on CNN. “In that interaction, [Martha-Ann] approached us, started screaming at us, used all of our full names — which, to me, felt like a threat because you're a stranger, we don't know you, you don't know us, how do you know our full names?
“And I just, I started yelling, ‘How dare you?’ Because they both were there at the same time. I said, ‘How dare you? You're on the highest court in the land. You represent the Supreme Court of the United States. You're behaving this way. You're yelling at a neighbor. You're harassing us. How dare you? Shame on you,’” Baden continued.
The New York Times reported last month that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag — also associated with “Stop the Steal” — flew outside Alito’s New Jersey vacation home last summer.
