Jodi Kantor new york times We published a story about Alitos' flag flap from 2021, and wondered why it took more than three years for the story to surface. As it turned out, Bob Barnes, a prominent Washington Post journalist, looked into the matter at the time and realized there was no story there. And Barnes was right.
Before I continue, let me briefly mention my personal regret for not writing to celebrate Barnes' incredible career. He resigned on December 31, 2023, after 17 years. post. (Bob told me Did not do it I should write about the Chief Justice's final New York eve message.) I recently attended a meeting with Barnes, and everyone in the room congratulated him on his careful and accurate reporting. Bob will be sorely missed.
Justin Jouvenal and Ann Marimow are currently writing about the courts. postProvide a play-by-play of what happened.
On January 20, 2021, the day of Biden's inauguration, which Alitos did not attend, Barnes went to the home to verify information about the flag. He met a couple coming out of their house. Martha-Ann Alito was visibly upset by his presence, and she demanded he “get off my property.”
When he explained the information he was seeking, she shouted, “It's an international distress signal!”
Alito intervened and guided his wife to a car parked in the driveway of their home, where they were heading to get out of the neighborhood. The judge said the flag's hanging upside down as a political protest stemmed from a neighborly dispute and that his wife had raised the flag, which she denied.
Martha-Ann Alito got out of her car and yelled, referring to her neighbors. “Ask them what they did!” She said yard signs about the couple have been put up in her neighborhood. She got back into the car, got out again, and took out a novelty flag of the type that people usually decorate their gardens at home. She lifted it up the flagpole. “Hey! Is that better?” she shouted.
Later that week, Samuel Alito issued a statement to The Post in response to written questions about whether the decision to fly the flag was to protest the election results or reflect concerns about the state of the country.
“I had absolutely no involvement in the flag-raising ceremony,” he said, using almost identical language to a statement provided to the Times last week. “It was placed by Mrs. Alito simply in response to a neighbor using offensive and personally offensive language on a yard sign.”
From what I know about Alitos, this exchange is exactly what might have happened.
Jouevanl and Marimow quote a WaPo spokesman:
A Post spokeswoman said the Post decided not to report on the incident because the flag-raising appeared to be the work of Martha-Ann Alito rather than justice and was related to a dispute with a neighbor. It was unclear at the time whether the claims were rooted in politics, the spokeswoman said.
Why did you do that? post I have a good sense of the story for 2021, but times Did you run it in 2024? I think times I suffered a serious error in judgment. In fact, there was wall-to-wall coverage of what was not a story. Here, Kantor is so intent on bringing the story to life that he cobbles together random tweets and social media posts about the inverted flag to defy the most likely and natural meaning of Mrs. Alito's actions. To this day, I've never met a single conservative who knows that an overturned flag has anything to do with “Stop the Steal.” Even Ann Coulter had no idea!
I follow the right wing more than the average bearer and had no idea that an inverted flag meant “Stop the Steal” as opposed to a signal of distress, which is what it always means.
You are making this. @nytimes. pic.twitter.com/7EHMTRDXJt
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) May 17, 2024
There is no story here. There was no story here. How much time have we all wasted on things that aren't this story?
The author of the story was important. This did not include any of the following: timesThese are Supreme Court reporters. They didn't even contribute to the story. The article was written by Jodi Kantor. I look at Jodi Kantor in the same way I look at Emily Bazelon. (For those who don't remember, the Times admitted wrongdoing when it assigned Bazleon to report a story about Brett Kavanaugh throwing ice at someone in 1985 after he tweeted critically about Kavanaugh.) Kantor and Bazelon Both are talented and knowledgeable writers. imitation. That doesn't mean you shouldn't read their work, but it does mean that you do so with appropriate caution. I've actually talked to Bazelon, but I was much more cautious than I would have been talking to a news reporter.
The old gray woman is in trouble. And just to be clear, I'm talking about the New York Times.
There is another question I would like to know the answer to. Was there another store in the location? Dobbs leak before Politico Did you run with it?