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demmiblue

(39,720 posts)
Tue May 28, 2024, 07:11 PM May 2024

The Alitos, the Neighborhood Clash and the Upside-Down Flag

Inside the escalating conflict on a bucolic suburban street that Justice Alito said prompted a “Stop the Steal” symbol at his home.

The police in Fairfax County, Va., received an unusual phone call on Feb. 15, 2021. A young couple claimed they were being harassed by the wife of a Supreme Court justice.

“Somebody in a position of authority needs to talk to her and make her stop,” said the 36-year-old man making the complaint, according to a recording of the call reviewed by The New York Times. The officer on the line responded that there was little the police could do: Yelling was not a crime.

The couple placed the call after a series of encounters with Martha-Ann Alito, wife of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., that had gone from uneasy to ugly. That day, Emily Baden, whose boyfriend (now husband) contacted the police, had traded accusations with Mrs. Alito, who lived down the street. In a recent interview, Ms. Baden admitted to calling her a lewd epithet.

The clash between the wife of a conservative Supreme Court justice and the couple, who were in their 30s, liberal and proud of it, played out over months on a bucolic block in Alexandria. It was the kind of shouting match among private citizens, at the height of tensions over the 2020 election, that might have happened in any mixed political community in America. But three years later, that neighborhood spat — which both sides said began over an anti-Trump sign — has taken on far greater proportions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/us/justice-alito-neighbors-stop-steal-flag.html
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Irish_Dem

(81,277 posts)
7. Yes as in no social graces whatsoever.
Tue May 28, 2024, 07:35 PM
May 2024

And silly too.
Why make enemies of your neighbors?
Not a pleasant way to live.

SWBTATTReg

(26,257 posts)
2. Here we are, a wife and her Supreme Court Justice, acting as children. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.
Tue May 28, 2024, 07:15 PM
May 2024

deminks

(11,526 posts)
3. Ruh roh, timeline doesn't fit Sammy's excuses
Tue May 28, 2024, 07:19 PM
May 2024



The "I hoisted the coup flag becaue the neighbors called me a nasty word" story never really made sense, but well...

"the justice told Fox News that his wife hoisted the flag in response to Ms. Baden’s vulgar insult. A text message and the police call — corroborated by Fairfax County authorities — indicate, however, that the name-calling took place on Feb. 15, weeks after the inverted flag was taken down."

End snip.

Ms. Baden never saw the upside down flag. Try another one, Sammy.

Hope22

(4,746 posts)
14. Somehow I envisioned a Supreme Court Justice to be above this type of pettiness!
Tue May 28, 2024, 09:43 PM
May 2024

Have they never heard of ‘sticks and stones….’? I looked up the definition of low life and there they were. Pretty frightening actually.

Arne

(3,609 posts)
4. This has become a drip drip drip story.
Tue May 28, 2024, 07:19 PM
May 2024

Like to have some recordings of the Alito's at events or parties
talking trash.

spooky3

(38,634 posts)
5. A minor point, but NOTHING in NoVA is "bucolic"
Tue May 28, 2024, 07:31 PM
May 2024

Another case of the NYT reporters’ needing to get out of town more often?

Torchlight

(6,830 posts)
10. I don't see the conversations his actions have engendered to end anytime soon.
Tue May 28, 2024, 08:22 PM
May 2024

I think this is a story that will get more and more traction over the next five weeks, and get a lot more people looking at their actions and maybe call for some transparency. Even the apolitical waitress at the diner I sometimes hit for breakfast had a not-very-nice thing to say about the guy, and for her, that was some serious potty mouth.

Warpy

(114,616 posts)
13. Sounds like they both need to be told to knock it off
Tue May 28, 2024, 09:37 PM
May 2024

Two grown ass women acting like four year olds is not a good look or either of them.

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