IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1244 
Censuring Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., for knowingly violating the 
Federal recusal statute and binding ethics standards. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 21, 2024 
Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. BALINT, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. 
TLAIB, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, and Mr. 
ESPAILLAT) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Censuring Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., for knowingly 
violating the Federal recusal statute and binding ethics 
standards. 
Whereas the Constitution establishes three coequal branches 
of government—legislative, executive, and judicial—each 
with its own powers and responsibilities; 
Whereas every person who appears before a United States 
court should have confidence that his or her case will be 
heard fairly and judged solely on the facts before the 
court and a thorough and thoughtful application of law; 
Whereas the words ‘‘Equal Justice Under Law’’ are carved 
above the entrance of the Supreme Court, declaring the 
core value of the Federal judiciary; 
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•HRES 1244 IH 
Whereas judicial impartiality is foundational to our system of 
justice and essential to uphold the Constitution’s guar-
antee of due process and equal protection of the laws; 
Whereas judicial independence and impartiality is essential to 
the fair administration of justice and the legitimacy of 
the courts; 
Whereas Congress has established binding ethics require-
ments and standards for the Federal judiciary; 
Whereas the Federal recusal statute, section 455 of title 28, 
United States Code, requires a justice ‘‘[to]...disqualify 
himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might 
reasonably be questioned’’ or ‘‘where he has a personal 
bias or prejudice concerning a party’’; 
Whereas, on November 13, 2023, the Supreme Court, with 
all nine Justices acting unanimously, promulgated a Code 
of Conduct for the Justices of the Supreme Court of the 
United States; 
Whereas the preface to the Code includes the statement: 
‘‘For the most part these rules and principles are not 
new: The Court has long had the equivalent of common 
law ethics rules, that is, a body of rules derived from a 
variety of sources, including statutory provisions, the 
code that applies to other members of the Federal judici-
ary, ethics advisory opinions issued by the Judicial Con-
ference Committee on Codes of Conduct, and historic 
practice’’; 
Whereas the Code preface also suggests that the code was 
promulgated to ‘‘dispel’’ ‘‘the misunderstanding that the 
Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this 
country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics 
rules this misunderstanding’’; 
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•HRES 1244 IH 
Whereas Canon 2(A) of the Code provides that a ‘‘Justice 
should respect and comply with the law and act at all 
times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the 
integrity and impartiality of the judiciary’’; 
Whereas Canon 3(B) of the Code incorporates the Federal 
recusal statute, providing that ‘‘a Justice should dis-
qualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the 
Justice’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, 
that is, where an unbiased and reasonable person who is 
aware of all relevant circumstances would doubt that the 
Justice could fairly discharge his or her duties’’; 
Whereas Canon 5 of the Code provides that a Justice should 
not ‘‘publicly endorse or oppose a candidate for public of-
fice’’ or ‘‘engage in other political activity’’; 
Whereas, on May 16, 2024, the New York Times published 
a photograph taken on January 17, 2021, of an Amer-
ican flag being flown upside-down in front of the resi-
dence of Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Jr.; 
Whereas the upside-down flag is a widely understood symbol 
of the so-called ‘‘Stop the Steal’’ effort which falsely and 
without evidence espoused that the 2020 Presidential 
election was stolen and that former President Donald J. 
Trump, not President Joe Biden, was actually elected as 
President of the United States; 
Whereas, on January 6, 2021, just a few days before the up-
side-down American flag flew in front of Justice Alito’s 
home, rioters who similarly carried the American flag up-
side-down stormed the United States Capitol in a violent 
effort to prevent Congress from certifying the results of 
the 2020 election; 
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•HRES 1244 IH 
Whereas the United States Flag Code, codified in section 8 
of title 4 of the United States Code, provides, ‘‘No dis-
respect should be shown to the flag of the United States 
of America;...(a) The flag should never be displayed with 
the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in in-
stances of extreme danger to life or property’’; 
Whereas by flying the flag upside-down in front of his resi-
dence during the period between the certification of the 
election and the inauguration in 2021, at a time when 
former President Trump and his political allies were ac-
tively disputing the validity of the election results, there 
was a reasonable perception that Justice Alito was sup-
porting former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 
election results or signaling that President Biden’s elec-
tion posed ‘‘extreme danger to life or property’’; 
Whereas, despite acting in a matter that creates a public per-
ception of bias, Justice Alito continued to hear and par-
ticipate in cases directly related to the 2020 election and 
the January 6, 2021, insurrection; and 
Whereas Justice Alito’s actions violate the principles of judi-
cial independence, impartial administration of justice, 
and the rule of law: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) censures Associate Justice Samuel Alito, 
Jr., for knowingly violating the Federal recusal stat-
ute and binding ethics standards and calling the im-
partiality of the Supreme Court of the United States 
into question by continuing to participate in cases in 
which his prior public conduct could be reasonably 
interpreted to demonstrate bias; and 
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•HRES 1244 IH 
(2) demands Associate Justice Samuel Alito, 
Jr., recuse himself from all litigation related to the 
2020 election or the insurrection on January 6, 
2021. 
Æ 
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