A judicial advocacy group launched an ethics complaint Wednesday against a sitting federal judge who criticized Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. over flying an upside-down U.S. flag in the wake of Jan. 6 riots.

Mike Davis, president of the Article III Project, called for the Judicial Council of the First Circuit to “take all appropriate steps to remedy this unfortunate situation” regarding U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor.

The Clinton appointee wrote an op-ed that was published Friday in The New York Times, saying that flying the inverted flag ran afoul of judicial ethics.

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“This is highly inappropriate, baseless, and prejudicial political speech by a judge against another judge while he is deciding the legal fates of criminal defendants going through the judicial process. Judge Ponsor provided no support for his assertion that ‘a great many people’ view these flags as partisan symbols,” Mr. Davis said.

In the op-ed, Judge Ponsor suggested it was “dumb” for Justice Alito to have the upside-down flag outside his Virginia home in the weeks after the U.S. Capitol riots.

“To put it bluntly, any judge with reasonable ethical instincts would have realized immediately that flying the flag then and in that way was improper. And dumb,” Judge Ponsor wrote.

He was appointed to the federal court for the District of Massachusetts in 1993. Comments critical of a Supreme Court justice from a sitting federal judge are rare.

Judge Ponsor’s statements come after The Times reported that Justice Alito had flown two flags outside his homes — one in 2021 at his residence in Alexandria, Virginia, and another in 2023 at his New Jersey beach house — that were symbols carried by the Jan. 6 rioters.

The Times reported last week that Justice Alito flew an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at his Long Beach Island, New Jersey, vacation home in 2023. The Times called the flag, which dates from the American Revolution, a symbol for “a more Christian-minded government” and said it was carried on Jan. 6 at the riot.

It was the second article by the same paper in just under a week about Justice Alito flying flags at his residences. The outlet previously reported that Justice Alito flew an upside-down U.S. flag at his Alexandria home in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot.

Democratic lawmakers have called it a public display of political activity, which would run afoul of judicial ethics. One House Democrat introduced a censure resolution that demands that the justice recuse from any case related to the 2020 election.

Justice Alito, meanwhile, rejected calls from his critics to recuse in a letter sent to members of Congress on Wednesday, saying his wife flew the flags.

“My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not. My wife was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years,” he said in his letter.

“My wife is an independently minded private citizen. She makes her own decisions, and I honor her right to do so,” he added. “A reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that this event does not meet the applicable standard for recusal. I am therefore duty bound to reject your recusal request.”

He noted his wife flew the “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside their New Jersey vacation home, which she bought with money she inherited. He also said Mrs. Alito flew the inverted American flag in response to a quarrel with a neighbor.

According to Mr. Davis’ complaint, the neighbor had a “F—- Trump” sign in his yard and called Mrs. Alito a “c—-.”

The calls for Justice Alito’s recusal come as the high court is weighing two major disputes this term over whether Mr. Trump is immune from charges stemming from his contest of the 2020 election results and another dispute over an obstruction charge facing hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants, including Mr. Trump.

Those opinions are expected to come by the end of June.