Judge Apologizes for Questioning Alito's Ethics

A federal judge was forced to apologize to Samuel Alito for questioning the Supreme Court justice's ethics.

In an essay for The New York Times, Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor of Massachusetts had blasted Alito for flying an upside-down American flag outside his home in Virginia and a Revolutionary War-era "Appeal to Heaven" flag outside his beach home.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Chief Judge Albert Diaz found that Ponsor's essay hurt public confidence in the courts as it took issue with Alito's ethics, the Washington Examiner reported Wednesday.

Ponsor, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote that Alito's decision to fly the flags was "improper" and "dumb."

"Courts work because people trust judges. Taking sides in this way erodes that trust," Ponsor wrote in the essay. "You just don't do that sort of thing, whether it may be considered over the line, or just edging up to the margin. Flying those flags was tantamount to sticking a 'Stop the Steal' bumper sticker on your car. You just don't do it."

However, Diaz, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, found Ponsor had violated rules and harmed "public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary," the Examiner reported.

Diaz also found that Ponsor's essay could "reasonably be viewed as a commentary on partisan issues."

Following Diaz's ruling, Ponsor acknowledged his essay had "violated the boundaries of our Code of Conduct."

"With the benefit of an objective perspective, I realize now that my criticism of the ethical judgement of a Supreme Court Justice might have had the effect of undermining the public's confidence in the integrity of the judicial system," Ponsor said in his apology.

"For these violations of the Code, unintentional at the time but clear in retrospect, I offer my unreserved apology and my commitment to scrupulously avoid any such transgression in the future."

Soon after initial reports about the flags at Alito's houses, Democrats called for the justice to recuse himself from all cases connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol because turning the flag upside down has been used as a political protest symbol.

Alito told the Times he had "no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag."

"It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs," he said.

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