What do the Controversial Flags Flown at Justice Alito's House Represent?

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is facing controversy over two flags flown at his personal residence. What do the flags represent, and was it wrong for a justice to display them? 

What Do the Flags Represent? The Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) determined the upside-down American flag originally served to indicate distress or danger and was later used as a symbol of protest, primarily used by “liberal, pacifist, environmentalist, and minority activists.” In 2020, “Trump supporters began adopting the flag, primarily at ‘Stop the Steal’ rallies alleging election fraud.” The “Appeal to Heaven” flag was a primary flag flown during the Revolutionary War that later became “popular among Christians and Republicans.” The article concluded this flag was “flown by several of those present at the Jan. 6 riot, but it doesn’t appear to have played an outsize role.”

Why Did Alito Fly Them? A writer in MSNBC (Left bias) argued Alito’s response to the controversy is “befitting for a public servant who clearly believes he has no responsibility to the public.” The writer determined that “Alito surely knows now the significance of the upside-down flag and its symbolic importance to Trump and his supporters.” Given this, the writer asked, “So here’s the question for Alito: why not apologize? Even if Alito believes he did nothing wrong, why not simply say he’s sorry if people drew the wrong impression from the upside-down flag? The answer is not difficult to discern: He does not care.”