Samuel Alito’s Neighbors Called Cops After ‘Ugly’ Run-Ins with Justice’s Wife: Report

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File

Two former neighbors of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife Martha-Ann Alito said that contrary to the justice’s claims, Martha-Ann was the instigator of an “ugly” encounter in which one of the neighbors used the word “cunt.”

Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that three days before Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 17, 2021, an upside-down American flag flew in the Alitos’ front yard. According to the U.S. Flag Code, Old Glory should only be flown in such a way as to indicate “dire distress in instance of extreme danger to life or property.” The upside-down flag became a preferred symbol of pro-Donald Trump election deniers who believed the 2020 contest was rigged. Moreover, the Alitos also flew another flag popular with election deniers, displaying it at their beach house in New Jersey.

Soon, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether Trump can be held criminally accountable for his efforts to overturn the election.

In response to the report, Justice Alito claimed his wife raised the upside-down flag after a dispute with a neighbor. However, that neighbor says her run-ins with Martha-Ann Alito happened after the flag was taken down.

The Times interviewed Emily Baden and her husband, who was granted anonymity because his employer requires him to keep political views private.

The Badens – who were boyfriend and girlfriend at the time – temporarily moved during the pandemic to Alexandria, Virginia where Baden’s mother lives.

The Times report begins:

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 report notes there are differences between Justice Alito’s account and Baden’s, the latter of whom provided a text supporting her version of the story, in addition to the documented call to police:

For instance, 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…

The justice later elaborated in an interview with Fox News, saying that in January 2021 a neighbor on the block displayed a vulgar anti-Trump sign, near where children wait for the school bus. Mrs. Alito complained to the neighbor. “Things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan 6th attacks,” tweeted the Fox News reporter who interviewed the justice.

While the Alitos were on a neighborhood walk, “there were words between Mrs. Alito and a male at the home with the sign,” the network reported. The justice said the man used “vulgar language, ‘including the C-word,’” After that exchange, “Mrs. Alito was distraught and hung the flag upside-down,” the Fox reporter relayed.

Baden said after Biden won the election, she placed a yard sign on her lawn saying, “Bye Don” on one side and Fuck Trump” on the other. While walking her dog, Baden said Martha-Ann Alito thanked her for taking the sign down. But in fact, it had merely been blown over. Baden told her the sign would remain.

Matters deteriorated from there, as Martha-Ann Alito allegedly spit at Baden’s vehicle during another encounter:

On Jan. 17, the upside-down flag hung at the Alito household, according to a photograph obtained by The Times. Neighbors say it was up for a few days. If the flag was intended as a message for the Badens, whose home does not have a direct view of the Alito residence, they missed it, they said.

The inauguration of President Biden, held three days later, was attended by six Supreme Court justices. Justice Alito and two others skipped it out of concerns about Covid, a court spokeswoman said at the time. That day, Ms. Baden and her then-boyfriend decided to drive past the Alito home. “There was a part of me that’s like, let’s see what’s going on,” Ms. Baden said.

Mrs. Alito happened to be standing outside. According to interviews with Ms. Baden and her husband, as well as messages they sent to friends at the time, Mrs. Alito ran toward their car and yelled something they did not understand. The couple continued driving, they said, and as they passed the Alito home again to exit the cul-de-sac, Mrs. Alito appeared to spit toward the vehicle.

Less than a month later, Baden says Martha-Ann Alito appeared to be going for a walk when she approached the couple, who were pulling in trash bins:

Mrs. Alito addressed the pair by name, used an expletive and called them “fascists,” the couple told The Times and said in texts at the time. Justice Alito remained silent, they added. The Alitos began to walk away.

The Times states that Baden then “snapped” and used the word “cunt.”

“I will fully cop to that,” she said.

“She does not remember her precise words, but recalls something like this: How dare you behave this way,” the report says. “You’ve been harassing us, over signs. You represent the highest court in the land. Shame on you.”

The Badens called police after the run-ins “had gone from uneasy to ugly” in order to document the incidents in case things escalated further.

Emily Baden reported that she was surprised when, at the end of 2023, she received a Christmas card from the Alitos stating, “May you have PEACE.”