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AOC demands Senate Democrats investigate reports of Jan. 6 flags flown at Supreme Court Justice Alito’s home

AOC demands Senate Democrats investigate reports of Jan. 6 flags flown at Supreme Court Justice Alito’s home

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., demanded the Democrat-controlled Senate investigate reports that a flag associated with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol was flown at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home.  In an interview on MSNBC’s “All in with Chris Hayes” on Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez described the reports as “an extraordinary breach of not just the trust and the stature of the Supreme Court, but we are seeing a fundamental challenge to our democracy.” She said that Congress did not have to wait to take action against Alito until Democrats had a majority in the House.  “Samuel Alito has identified himself with the same people who raided the Capitol on Jan. 6, and is now going to be presiding over court cases that have deep implications over the participants of that rally,” the progressive “Squad” member said. “And while this is the threat to our democracy, Democrats have a responsibility for defending our democracy. And in the Senate, we have gavels.” “There should be subpoenas going out. There should be active investigations that are happening,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And I believe that when House Democrats take the majority, we are preparing and ensuring to support the broader effort to stand up our democracy. But I also believe that when Democrats have power, we have to use it. We cannot be in perpetual campaign mode. We need to be in governance mode, we need to be in accountability mode with every lever that we have. Because we cannot take a Senate majority for granted, a House majority for granted or a White House for granted.”  The New York Times reported on Wednesday that a second flag of a type carried by rioters during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was displayed outside a house owned by Alito.  ALITO SAYS WIFE DISPLAYED UPSIDE-DOWN FLAG AFTER ARGUMENT WITH INSULTING NEIGHBOR An “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown outside Alito’s beach vacation home last summer. An inverted American flag — another symbol carried by rioters — was seen at Alito’s home outside Washington less than two weeks after the riot at the Capitol.  News of the upside-down American flag sparked an uproar last week, including calls from high-ranking Democrats for Alito to recuse himself from cases related to former President Trump. Alito and the court have not commented on the “Appeal to Heaven” flag. Alito previously said the inverted American flag was flown by his wife amid a dispute with neighbors, and he had no part in it. The white flag with a green pine tree was seen flying at the Alito beach home in New Jersey, according to three photographs obtained by the Times. The images were taken on different dates in July and September 2023, though it was not clear how long it was flying overall or how much time Alito spent there. The flag dates back to the Revolutionary War, but in more recent years it has become associated with conservatives, Christian nationalism and support for Trump, according to the Times. It was carried by some rioters fueled by Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement.  OBAMA CHEERS BIDEN JUDICIAL MILESTONE AS FORMER ADVISER WARNS OF TRUMP ‘MAGA COURT MAJORITY’ ON SUPREME COURT Republicans in Congress and state officials have also displayed the flag. House Speaker Mike Johnson, hung it at his office last fall shortly after winning the gavel. A spokesman said the speaker appreciates its rich history and was given the flag by a pastor who served as a guest chaplain for the House, according to the Associated Press.  Alito is taking part in two pending Supreme Court cases associated with Jan. 6: whether Trump has immunity from prosecution for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and whether a certain obstruction charge can be used against rioters. He also participated in the court’s unanimous ruling that states cannot bar Trump from the ballot using the “insurrection clause” that was added to the Constitution after the Civil War. There has been no indication that Alito would step aside from the cases.  Another conservative on the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas, also has ignored calls to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election because of his wife Virginia Thomas’ support for efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Judicial ethics codes focus on the need for judges to be independent, avoiding political statements or opinions on matters they could be called on to decide. The Supreme Court had long gone without its own code of ethics, but it adopted one in November 2023 in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices. The code, however, lacks a means of enforcement. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Trump says WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich ‘will be released almost immediately’ after November election

Trump says WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich ‘will be released almost immediately’ after November election

Former President Donald Trump predicted Thursday that detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will be released by Russia “almost immediately” following this year’s presidential election.  In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump wrote “Evan Gershkovich, the Reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office. He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY.”  “Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!” Trump added.  But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked about the matter on Thursday, said Putin has “not had contacts with Donald Trump,” according to Reuters.  EVAN GERSHKOVICH WILL REMAIN JAILED THROUGH JUNE IN RUSSIA  The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter has been detained in Russia since March 2023 on espionage allegations that the U.S. government and his employer have called absurd. He recently lost another appeal to end his pretrial detention and will remain behind bars until at least June.  Trump made a similar claim regarding Gershkovich at the end of April.  “The reporter should be released, and he will be released,” Trump said during an interview with TIME. “I don’t know if he’s going to be released under [President] Biden. I would get him released.”  PUTIN AND XI REAFFIRM ‘NO-LIMITS’ PARTNERSHIP AS MOSCOW INTENSIFIES OFFENSIVE IN UKRAINE  The interview covered a wide range of Trump’s second-term ambitions, which included his plans for dealing with Putin. When pressed by TIME on why he hasn’t called for Gershkovich’s release on dubious spying charges, Trump replied, “I guess because I have so many other things I’m working on.”  President Biden has called repeatedly for Gershkovich’s release and his administration has said it is working to bring both him and imprisoned American Paul Whelan home from Russia.   He mentioned Gershkovich during his address at the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner, saying Putin should free him “immediately.”  Fox News’ Gabriel Hays contributed to this report. 

Top Dem’s past push for noncitizen voting rights revealed ahead of House vote

Top Dem’s past push for noncitizen voting rights revealed ahead of House vote

A senior House Democrat previously advocated for noncitizen participation in the U.S. election system, arguing that the framers of the U.S. Constitution did not “intend” for a citizenship requirement to vote, Fox News Digital has learned. It comes as the House gears up to vote on a bill that would repeal a local law in Washington, D.C., granting noncitizen residents of the city the right to vote in local elections.  The bill advanced through the House Oversight Committee in a 23-19 vote last summer and is expected for a House floor vote Thursday afternoon. Among the Democrats who opposed it was Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the Oversight Committee’s ranking member, who authored a 1993 paper for the American University Washington College of Law, “Legal Aliens, Local Citizens: The Historical Constitutional and Theoretical Meanings of Alien Suffrage.” WASHINGTON DC LAW ALLOWING NONCITIZENS TO VOTE IN ELECTIONS CHALLENGED BY LAWSUIT “In this Article, I will argue that the current blanket exclusion of noncitizens from the ballot is neither constitutionally required nor historically normal. Moreover, the disenfranchisement of aliens at the local level is vulnerable to deep theoretical objections since resident aliens — who are governed, taxed, and often drafted just like citizens — have a strong democratic claim to being considered members, indeed citizens, of their local communities,” Raskin wrote in the paper. In another section of the paper, Raskin noted that the Founding Fathers considered citizenship terms for officeholders in the White House and Congress but did not include the same for voters. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS STORM US BORDER IN EL PASO, KNOCK OVER GUARDS AMID STANDOFF OVER TEXAS LAW “It can be safely concluded from the juxtaposition of the Framers’ specific and varying constitutional conditions for federal office-holding and their complete silence as to a citizenship qualification for federal voting that they did not intend to create a U.S. citizenship suffrage qualification,” he wrote. On the specific amendments that attach the word “citizen” when describing voting rights, Raskin wrote, “If such language is not designed to exclude aliens from voting, perhaps it discloses a general understanding that voting is for citizens only. But this reading is badly strained: the language specifies only that states may not exclude any citizen from the franchise on the basis of race, not that the states may not include non-citizens in the franchise.” 7.2 MILLION ILLEGALS ENTERED THE US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATION OF 36 STATES He also argued that giving noncitizens the right to vote would have no bearing on their own naturalization process. “The simple right to vote in local elections, or even state and federal elections, neither confers U.S. citizenship for federal purposes nor immunizes aliens against the operation of any provision of immigration or naturalization law,” Raskin wrote. Raskin told Fox News Digital that he still stands by his belief in noncitizens voting in local elections but pointed out that it’s illegal on the federal level. “I stand by my academic conclusion that the Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that there’s nothing in the Constitution that prohibits non-citizens from voting in local elections. As a matter of public policy, localities have every reason to decide for themselves. Most states have allowed noncitizen voting at some point in their history and any attempt to demonize local noncitizen voting today is strange for Republicans given that they strongly supported this practice in the 19th century. Non-citizen voting in federal elections is against the law and not at issue in tomorrow’s vote,” Raskin said. The city of Takoma Park, which Raskin represents, shared a press release in October celebrating “30 years of non-citizen voting” in local elections. The House’s D.C. noncitizens voting bill was introduced by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas. Under a provision known as home rule, Congress is afforded the ability to block laws passed by the D.C. council. Even if passed, however, it’s highly unlikely that the Democrat-controlled Senate takes it up.