MSNBC Host and Dem Steve Cohen Roast ‘Street Lawyer’ Alito Over Flag Controversy: ‘Big My Cousin Vinny Energy!’

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) claimed on MSNBC Saturday that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was acting “more like a street lawyer” than the “silk stocking lawyer” he should be, after flying flags at his homes that were associated with the Jan. 6 riots.

The New York Times reported that Alito flew both an upside down American flag, and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag that was flown during the Revolutionary War. That prompted Cohen to introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives to censure Alito, and called on him to recuse himself from hearing any cases involving the insurrection.

Currently, the court is deciding whether former President Donald Trump has “absolute immunity” from prosecution in the federal election interference case.

“We can pass a censure resolution, which at least puts a scarlet letter on Alito, which I think would have some effect on the court’s opinions. But it has to get through committee, and Jim Jordan, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Trump at the time, I don’t think will permit a vote on the item, even though it’s getting more and more co-sponsors as the days go on,” Cohen said, continuing:

Impeachment is something that could be done, but it won’t be done in this Congress. So, we just have to rely on the court who has opted, because pressure from the Congress and mostly the Senate and Sen. Whitehouse, a code of ethics. And the code of ethics has clearly been violated. Now, it’s up to each individual justice to judge whether they’ve violated the code of ethics and to recuse themselves in cases where their impartiality may be in question. Alito, I don’t think, is caliber a person to do that. He’s acting more like a street lawyer than a silk stocking lawyer. And, that’s what the Supreme Court is supposed to be, is silk stocking. But this man’s silk stocking stinks.

“Big My Cousin Vinny energy here!” The Weekend co-host Alicia Menendez said, referring to the 1992 movie about a failed personal injury attorney.

Alito has blamed his wife for flying the upside down American flag, but has not commented on the “Appeal to Heaven” flag.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC’s The Weekend.