All of those summers spent on Long Beach Island — fishing and crabbing in Barnegat Bay in the mornings, body-surfing the waves in Harvey Cedars in the afternoons, trying for a hole-in-one to win free games at Bill Burr’s Flamingo Golf in Ship Bottom at night — came in handy on Thursday.
The Google Street view of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s vacation home gave us a hint of where to look, and while we’re not revealing the address, here’s what we know about his getaway by the bay on Long Beach Island:
It’s a four-bedroom, three-bath home with a little more than 2,000 square feet on a lot that’s approximately 4,000 square feet, and realtor.com estimates its value at $1.6 million.
Bay sunsets are majestic on LBI, but we’re told Alito’s home, because of its orientation, doesn’t have a great view of them.
Beach homes often are in the eye of a storm, but this is no ordinary no’easter: Alito has been caught flying a controversial flag at his vacation home on the Jersey Shore, according to a report by the New York Times.
Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag — a symbol of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists — was flown outside Alito’s home in Virginia, another controversial flag was displayed at his house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs obtained by the Times.
An “Appeal to Heaven” flag — also carried by insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — was flown on a flagpole outside Alito’s home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google Street View image from late August also shows the flag, according to the report.
The flag-flying has raised serious questions about Alito’s objectivity in ruling on cases related to Jan. 6, including former President Donald Trump’s claim for presidential immunity from any crimes committed while in office. Trump is arguing against any legal exposure he might have in allegedly planning or aiding the insurrection.
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It appears Alito’s LBI neighbors, who asked to remain anonymous, ratted him out.
The home, according to real estate records, was purchased by Alito in 2014 for $580,000 in a sale by a woman’s estate.
At that time, real estate taxes were $6,954. In 2022, the last year for which we have tax information, the taxes were $10,285.
And while Alito and his eight court colleagues are deciding whether a president has immunity from criminal law, Alito knows this: Supreme Court justices aren’t immune from New Jersey tax hikes.
Other homes on the street range in value from $1.2 million to $1.8 million, so Alito’s home falls in that sweet spot: He didn’t buy the most expensive home on the block, usually a real estate investment no-no.
The justice is likely to see a steady climb in his equity, because the LBI market has remained strong since the pandemic, and if mortgage interest rates fall later this year, the market might be juiced even more.
Many records on judges’ homes are sealed, so we can’t be certain whether there’s a mortgage on it, but records appear to indicate Alito owns it free and clear.
But even if rates remain where they are, the luxury beach house market in New Jersey usually chugs along, immune (there’s that word again) from economic vagaries — especially on Long Beach Island, which contains some of the most desirable beachfront and bayfront properties on the East Coast.
Harvey Cedars, Loveladies and Barnegat Light are attractive to the rich and influential because they contain enormous homes and limited public access — a hot-button issue for many who believe New Jersey beaches and bayfronts are public resources supported by tax dollars and, as such, should be open to all. If you live in those towns, you don’t have to deal with beachgoing riff-raff.
Houses near the justice’s summer home recently have sold for between $1.3 million and $3.3 million, according to realtor.com. Even the smallest homes near New Jersey beaches can run $1 million or more.
And before Alito rules on Green New Deal policies or any climate change lawsuits, he might want to remember this: According to real estate sites, the flooding risk for his bayfront home is rising.
Just like the pressure on him to recuse himself on Jan. 6 cases.
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