Rep. Jerry Nadler calls for SCOTUS ethics reforms in wake of Alito flag flap

Amid the latest controversy involving a U.S. Supreme Court justice, one liberal lawmaker is renewing his calls for a code of ethics as well as term limits for those who serve on the high court bench.

After an image emerged of an upside-down American flag hanging outside the home of Justice Samuel Alito back in 2021, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) issued a call to action for what he believes are overdue reforms at the Supreme Court, as The Hill reports.

Flag furor erupts

As Fox News noted, it was last week that the New York Times published an image taken in January of 2021 of an upside-down flag display at the Alito family home in Virginia.

The outlet further noted that in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol unrest, the upside-down flag was adopted by some supporters of then-President Donald Trump as an expression of doubt in the validity of the 2020 election results.

Precisely why the image came to the forefront more than three years after the fact remains unclear, but Alito quickly offered an explanation as to what occurred, saying that the flag display was orchestrated by his wife amid an ongoing dispute with a neighbor who had displayed a vulgar anti-Trump sign near a school bus stop.

A confrontation between Mrs. Alito and the neighbor ensued, and the latter erected a sign personally attacking the justice's wife and blaming her for the Capitol breach.

The justice noted that he did not have a hand in the decision to fly the flag in the upside-down position and indicated that the display was up for only a “short time.”

Nadler holds forth

The entire kerfuffle is, according to Nadler, just the latest example of why the court needs an enforceable code of ethics as well as defined term limits.

Speaking on MSNBC's The Weekend, Nadler said of the justices, “None of them have clean hands, none of them have clean hands.”

Referencing a discussion Alito had with Fox News' Shannon Bream about the controversy in which he said the flag was up for “several days,” Nadler noted, “that tells me that was okay with him. If it had been flown for a couple of hours and he found out about it and said, 'take it down,' that might be a different thing, but it was flown for several days.”

Moving onto practical matters, Nadler added, “He should certainly recuse himself from any January 6 related case, from any case related to President Trump,” declaring that Alito is “associated with the 'Stop the Steal' movement now whether he wants to be or not.”

Nadler is in agreement with Sen. Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL), who also demanded Alito's recusal from Jan. 6-related cases, but whether any such concession is forthcoming, only time will tell.