After Justice Samuel Alito was caught with not one but two flags signaling alliance with Donald Trump’s attempted coup, Alito responded like any MAGA acolyte would: by denying the obvious and playing the victim. In this case, he blamed his neighbors and his wife and ridiculously claimed he is “duty-bound” not to succumb to “political” calls for him to recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases.

Chief Justice John Roberts is not only fine with that, he is protecting Alito. Even though there are good reasons to believe Alito lied about the circumstances surrounding "his wife's" Stop the Steal-supporting flag while election-related cases were pending before the Supreme Court.

On Thursday, Roberts refused a request by Judiciary Committee Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse to ensure Alito recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases and to discuss the Supreme Court ethics crisis not just regarding Alito but also Justice Clarence Thomas.

Roberts pretended to deny the request on Constitutional principles. Worse, he normalized Alito’s outrageous behavior. Roberts claimed to be following 235 years of precedent in which “individual Justices decide recusal issues.” As if flying a flag supporting Donald Trump’s coup attempt was not a shocking violation of Alito’s oath to uphold the Constitution.

Roberts cloaked himself under the same phony veil of principles when he refused to meet with Sens. Durbin and Whitehouse. “Separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence counsel against” a meeting, he claimed. “Moreover, the format proposed - a meeting with leaders of only one party who have expressed an interest in matters currently pending before the Court - simply underscores that participating in such a meeting would be inadvisable.”

Oh, please. If Roberts really cared about separation of powers and impartiality, he’d have refused to allow his court to sabotage the DOJ’s Jan. 6 case, which Alito and Thomas undoubtedly had a hand in, for the obvious purpose of protecting former executive-branch head Trump.

Roberts is complicit in the destruction of court ethics, not abiding by them. That’s all the more reason for Durbin and Whitehouse and all the other Dems to ramp up the pressure and push on the levers of power they do have. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a previous member of the House Judiciary Committee, says the DOJ can force Alito and Thomas to recuse. Senate Democrats can subpoena Roberts, Alito and Thomas and hold public hearings whether the subpoenas are complied with or not. Jennifer Rubin argued for impeachment hearings against Alito and more. But handwringing will not get anything done, she said, and it’s long past time for Democrats to stop their “mambsy-pambsy approach.”

Get on it, Dems. Stat!