The Intelligencer has a story today that actually happened several years ago but — not unlike Alito’s Upside-Down Flag nonsense — didn’t register with the public at the time. As we noted last week, Alito has been taking expensive gifts — as the conservative Supreme Court justices are wont to do! — from a right-wing German princess, but it turns out he’s been cultivating more ties to the European aristocracy.
It turns out the last time Donald Trump was president, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, author of the Dobbs decision setting women’s health care back a few centuries, added a knighthood to his own résumé, pledging an oath to the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George. The knighthood, bestowed in 2017, wasn’t widely reported at the time, but the order’s website was updated in July with Alito’s investiture on the front page.
May we present, Sir Samuel of Blackacre! We don’t know his sigil, but it’s meant to be flown upside-down.
Alito’s “An Appeal to Heaven” flag is a reference to John Locke’s argument in favor of a right to rise up against monarchists. Alito himself accepted a knighthood from an order managed by the House of Bourbon–Two Sicilies. The grand prefect of the order’s son is a pretender to the Imperial Throne of France.
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Did the Framers have anything to say about the idea of European nobles granting titles to American government officials? You know, since they’d just fought a war of independence from a royal superpower on the strength of Enlightenment philosophy.
Indeed, they did! Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution reads, in relevant part:
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
That’s why when you hear of some famous politician getting knighted or some other play title, it’s always after they retire.
11 comments:
Sir Samuel the Odious.
He'll tell us all to get bent; that's how he'll explain it. The republican nominee for president attempted a self coup 4 years ago, has been found to have sexually assaulted a woman, is a convicted felon, and will likely be re-elected as POTUS on Tuesday. Do you really think that there will be consequences to Alito for getting a meaningless honorary knighthood from a defunct royal house?
If we executed every member of the Night's Watch for pledging an oath to the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, the Wall would be guarded by headless men.
He will not be re-elected.
He should only accept awards or honorifics from groups that appear before him routinely, like Justice Ginsburg and the ACLU.
Hopefully he will be re-elected for many reasons, one of which being that Alito will then likely retire.
Yay! Let's do whataboutism and drag dead old ladies through the mud. Or...we could talk about what living and currently serving members of the judiciary are doing? Just a thought.
Hopefully he won’t be re-elected for many reasons, one of which being that Alito might be held accountable.
Emolumentary, my Dear Watson!
I couldn't resist.
Woody Clermont
It is a religious organization and honor elated to the Catholic Church, like Knights of Malta, Knights of St Gregory, Knights of Columbus. What a bunch of uneducated rubes!
Oh okay well that makes sense that religious orders should give American justices aristocratic like titles and regalia. That’s not weird at all.
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