For better or worse, the month of May has provided flag nerds with a wealth of stories tied to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and Maine’s “lone pine tree” flag.
Most of the national attention has revolved around The New York Times reporting this month that Alito had an “Appeal to Heaven” flag flying outside his New Jersey beach home last summer and an upside-down American flag, associated with efforts by supporters of former President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election, outside his Virginia home.
Maine’s original flag featuring a pine tree and blue star on a buff background got lumped into the flag discourse because the “Appeal to Heaven” flag — which dates to the Revolutionary War but has been used by Christian nationalists and was carried by numerous rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — also includes a pine tree on a white background.
The revelations of the two flags outside homes of Alito — who is on a U.S. Supreme Court considering obstruction charges brought against Jan. 6 rioters and Trump — was coupled with Leonard Leo, the conservative activist credited with helping solidify the high court’s conservative majority, also flying the “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside his Northeast Harbor home. All that comes as Mainers will vote this fall on restoring the lone pine tree as the official state flag.
Each pine tree flag derives its main symbol from an Algonquin tradition but the flags “are very different and should not be confused,” said Dave Martucci, the past president of the North American Vexillological Association who lives in Washington, Maine.
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag design “is a late 19th century poor interpretation of the flag proposed for the Continental Army’s floating batteries in Boston in 1775,” Martucci said. Six schooners outfitted by George Washington to intercept British vessels flew the flag as they sailed under his command. It became the maritime flag of Massachusetts in 1776 and remained so until 1971.
Flag experts said the pine tree symbolized strength and resilience in New England colonies while the “Appeal to Heaven” phrase stemmed from the belief that God would deliver the colonists from tyranny.
Though recent headlines may have brought Maine’s original flag additional attention, Martucci said its blue star represents the sole motto that can be associated with it: “Dirigo.”
Maine became the nation’s 23rd state in 1820 and — like most states throughout the 19th century — did not have an official flag until 1901, when it adopted the pine tree design credited to Adjutant Gen. John T. Richards. It flew until 1909, when the Legislature voted to change it to the current design featuring the state seal that includes a pine tree, moose, seaman and farmer on a blue background.
No official record exists of why lawmakers voted to change it to the state seal design, but Martucci and historians have noted many legislators in 1909 were Civil War veterans who may have preferred a flag similar to those they carried in battle. Still, critics have argued Maine’s current design looks too similar to other state flags that use the blue color scheme.
Maine voters will decide in November on whether to change the state flag back to the 1901 version, after a legislative effort to push the referendum to 2026 was blocked this month amid a flurry of pocket vetoes from Gov. Janet Mills. After similar proposals to change the flag design failed in previous years, the Legislature finally approved last year a bill from former Rep. Sean Paulhus, D-Bath, that initially would have changed the current version to the lone pine tree version before an amendment from Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, tossed the question to voters.
Brakey brought up the “Appeal to Heaven” chatter in tweets last week that said pine tree flags are apparently “simultaneously anti-white men and also pro-white supremacy,” adding that “is why our political discourse these days is so bonkers, tribal, and stupid.”
“In America, it is a historic symbol of New England defiance to tyranny,” Brakey wrote of the pine tree. “That’s it. That’s what it means.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.