The ethics scandal that has been slowly germinating in the US supreme court for more than a year has erupted into a full-blown crisis, with the saga surrounding Samuel Alito and the politically charged flags flown at his homes posing a direct threat to the reputation and impartiality of the country’s most powerful bench.
On Wednesday, Alito, one of six rightwingers who control the nine-strong supreme court, wrote to Congress to explain why he was refusing to recuse himself from Trump v US. The case addresses Donald Trump’s claim that as a former president he has absolute immunity from prosecution over his role in the Capitol insurrection on 6 January 2021.
