Samuel Alito's Neighbor Disputes Flag Story: 'Outright Lying'

A former neighbor of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has said his account of a neighborhood dispute that led to the hoisting of an upside-down U.S. flag on his property didn't add up.

"At best, he's mistaken, but at worst he's just outright lying," Emily Baden told CNN's Erin Burnett on OutFront.

Baden said the verbal exchange with Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Alito, that the justice claimed was the reason for his wife flying the upside-down flag—associated with supporters of former president Donald Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him—occurred in the middle of February 2021.

The photograph of the flag outside Alito's home in Alexandria, Virginia, that was published by The New York Times in May was taken on January 17, 2021. And an "Appeal to Heaven" flag, also carried by rioters during the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, was displayed outside Alito's beach vacation home last summer, increasing calls for him to recuse himself from cases related to Trump.

"At best, he's mistaken, but at worst he's just outright lying." Justice Alito's neighbor at the center of the flag dispute says his story doesn't add up. Emily Baden joins OutFront for her first TV interview. pic.twitter.com/S9LimS2eMh — Erin Burnett OutFront (@OutFrontCNN) June 6, 2024

Baden's then-boyfriend called police on February 15, 2021, to report "unprompted" harassment by Martha Ann-Alito, CNN reported.

Baden said the flag was "absolutely" not flown because of the confrontation that occurred that day, and had been put up weeks earlier.

"That's what I want to really drive home to people, is that this happened on February 15, and we know that because they had been harassing us so long that we were like, 'We need a paper trail of this, like we'd better call the cops right now.'"

Newsweek has contacted Samuel Alito for comment via an email to a Supreme Court spokesperson outside business hours.

Baden said she put up a sign in the yard of her mother's home, where she was living after the 2020 election, that said "F Trump in glitter, cursive letters."

After that, she said there were "a handful of times" when she "somewhat interacted" with Alito's wife. "She kind of stopped in front of the house and give us a long glare," Baden said.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito poses for an official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on October 7, 2022. A former neighbor of Alito's has said... Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito poses for an official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on October 7, 2022. A former neighbor of Alito's has said his account of a neighborhood dispute that led to the hoisting of an upside-down U.S. flag on his property didn't add up. More

Alito has said that the decision to fly the upside-down flag had nothing to do with him and that his wife flew it after being "greatly distressed" because of a "very nasty neighborhood dispute."

"A house on the street displayed a sign attacking her personally and a man who was living at the house trailed her all the way down the street and berated her in my presence using foul language, including what I regard as the vilest epithet that can be addressed to a woman," Alito wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

Baden said other signs she put up—saying "Trump Is a Fascist" and "You are Complicit"—were not directed at the Alito's.

And she said it was she, not her then-boyfriend, who had uttered the epithet at Martha-Ann Alito, which The Washington Post said was corroborated by a neighbor who heard the confrontation.

"[Martha-Ann Alito] approached us, started screaming at us, used all of our full names, which to me felt like a threat," Baden said. "And I just started yelling, 'how dare you?' Because they both were there at the same time. So 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 added: "I do regret using the word because the message is important. It's like the power imbalance between these people and me. I'm nobody to them and the fact they took umbrage with my sign is telling enough. It shows, like, a bias, doesn't it?"

Update 6/6/24, 4:10 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.