Washington Post had Alito upside down flag story in 2021 but didn't run it

The Washington Post had the story about an upside down flag hanging outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito 3 years ago in January 2021 but decided not to publish it.

When the New York Times ran the story on May 16 about the upside flag, Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, displayed it as a result of a dispute with the couple's neighbor, who allegedly had directed “personally insulting” yard signs at them.

The report mentions that some supporters of former President Trump started using the upside flag as a symbol of a stolen 2020 election.

According to a Semafor report, Cameron Barr, former Washington Post senior managing editor, has said he was responsible for the decision not to run the story at the time.

Barr said he had proposed a story about the dispute between Alito and his neighbor that would incorporate the upside down flag display but that story didn't move forward and he regrets not advocating more for it to run.

“I agreed with [Supreme Court reporter] Bob Barnes and others that we should not do a single-slice story about the flag, because it seemed like the story was about Martha-Ann Alito and not her husband,” he said. “In retrospect, I should have pushed harder for that story."

Despite the upside flag story, Alito has said he will not recuse himself from cases involving Trump.