The New York Times’ Specious Crusade against Justice Alito

Reporter Jodi Kantor’s beat, as described by the New York Times beneath her byline, has become both “the Supreme Court and the controversial flags outside Justice [Samuel] Alito’s homes.” She’s making the most of her assignment. The Times journalist followed up last week’s scoop, which alleged that Alito’s jurisprudence was tainted by the fact that he hung an innocuous Revolutionary War–era flag outside one of his homes, with another attack on the justice and his family. This time, Kantor sought to frame the Alitos as the aggressors in a neighborhood dispute that purportedly led Martha-Ann Alito to fly an inverted American flag. But Kantor relies on nonlinear storytelling to cast the Alitos’ neighbors as victims of the maniacal bullies around the way. Relating the sequence of events on which Kantor reports in chronological order conveys a different impression.

Kantor’s account might have begun at the beginning, in the baleful summer of 2020. Then, Emily Baden, an aspiring actress and restaurant server, moved with her then-boyfriend (now husband) to Alexandria, Va., to “provide company” for her retired mother. There, the two engaged in left-wing activism common in 2020 and unremarkable given Alexandria’s political culture. They participated in Black Lives Matter rallies. They placed Biden–Harris paraphernalia in their yards. No eyebrows were raised until the couple stuck a handmade sign in their yard, near a school bus stop, after Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection. The sign read “Bye Don” and “F*** Trump” on alternating sides.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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Reporter Jodi Kantor’s beat, as described by the New York Times beneath her byline, has become both “the Supreme Court and the controversial flags outside Justice [Samuel] Alito’s homes.” She’s making the most of her assignment. The Times journalist followed up last week’s scoop, which alleged that Alito’s jurisprudence was tainted by the fact that he hung an innocuous Revolutionary War–era flag outside one of his homes, with another attack on the justice and his family. This time, Kantor sought to frame the Alitos as the aggressors in a neighborhood dispute that purportedly led Martha-Ann Alito to fly an inverted American flag. But Kantor relies on nonlinear storytelling to cast the Alitos’ neighbors as victims of the maniacal bullies around the way. Relating the sequence of events on which Kantor reports in chronological order conveys a different impression.

Kantor’s account might have begun at the beginning, in the baleful summer of 2020. Then, Emily Baden, an aspiring actress and restaurant server, moved with her then-boyfriend (now husband) to Alexandria, Va., to “provide company” for her retired mother. There, the two engaged in left-wing activism common in 2020 and unremarkable given Alexandria’s political culture. They participated in Black Lives Matter rallies. They placed Biden–Harris paraphernalia in their yards. No eyebrows were raised until the couple stuck a handmade sign in their yard, near a school bus stop, after Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection. The sign read “Bye Don” and “F*** Trump” on alternating sides.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.