![Key GOP senators criticize Alito over upside-down flag incident](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/fa8e161f-271a-41e2-aabb-6ef3a63cddef.jpg?c=16x9&q=w_800,c_fill)
Key GOP senators criticize Alito over upside-down flag incident
CNN
Key Republican senators sharply criticized Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito after news reports showed an upside-down American flag – a symbol used by some supporters of former President Donald Trump who challenged the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory – flying outside his home in 2021.
Key Republican senators sharply criticized Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito after news reports showed an upside-down American flag – a symbol used by some supporters of former President Donald Trump who challenged the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory – flying outside his home in 2021. Such criticism of a conservative justice from high-ranking GOP senators is extremely rare and a sign of how unusual the controversy is. In a brief interview with CNN, Senate Republican Whip John Thune, one of the contenders vying to replace retiring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, called the flag a “bad decision.” “I don’t know how you explain that,” Thune said. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that it was a “mistake” for Alito to have an American flag hanging upside down at his home. “It creates a bad image,” Graham told CNN’s Manu Raju. “It created a situation that we’re all talking about. So, yeah, I think it was a mistake.”
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