Associate Justice Samuel Alito sits during a group photo of the justices at the Supreme Court in Washington
Justice Samuel Alito was not present on Friday morning as the Supreme Court handed down opinions in the courtroom, the second day in a row he has been absent.
Alito’s absence, for which the Supreme Court has not provided an explanation, is unusual because it’s the end of the term and the justices have issued nine opinions over the last two days.
One of the opinions on Friday included upholding a federal law that bars guns for domestic abusers, rejecting an argument pressed by gun rights groups that the prohibition violated the Second Amendment.
In this file photograph, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr., left, and his wife Martha-Ann Alito, pay their respects at the casket of Reverend Billy Graham at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on February 28, 2018. An upside-down American flag, a symbol associated with Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud, was displayed outside of Alito’s home days after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, The New York Times reports. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs,” Alito said in an emailed statement to the newspaper.
Justice Alito: Wife ‘solely responsible’ for flags outside home
Alito has been in the news recently for controversial flag displays outside of his properties, including a US flag that was flown inverted outside the justice’s home in 2021 and another flag that was on display during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol that was flown outside Alito’s vacation home in New Jersey.
