Nadler questions Supreme Court ethics after Alito flag debacle: 'None of them have clean hands'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

05/18/24 3:25 PM ET


Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) brought the question of Supreme Court ethics back to light after Justice Samuel Alito was criticized earlier this week for an upside-down American flag allegedly flying outside of his Virginia home in 2021.

“None of them have clean hands, none of them have clean hands,” Nadler said during an appearance Saturday on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.” “And again, I would say we need two things. We need to enforce a code of ethics. And we need term limits on the Supreme Court.”

Nadler, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Commitee, is just the latest lawmaker scrutinizing Alito after The New York Times reported Thursday that the upside-down flag flew outside his home in Alexandria, Va., on Jan. 17, 2021, and potentially for several days, shortly after Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

He said Alito did not deny that the flag flew “for several days” when the justice spoke with “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream Friday about the report. “That tells me that that was okay with him,” Nadler said Saturday. “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.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4672138-jerry-nadler-samuel-alito-upside-down-flag-supreme-court-ethics/

[patphil]

1. Things like this happen because the court has no code of ethics that the Justices must adhere to.

All it needed was a group of self-serving, politically motivated, falsely religious people on the court to let us see what the worst case scenario would be.
And that's where we are now.

[LisaM]

2. I don't agree with the term limit part.

However, on the question of ethics and recusal, I am totally on board.

[PSPS]

3. Yeah, the lifetime term is there for a good reason but ...

... having a senate designed for minority rule that has gleefully confirmed perjurers to the court has produced the current situation. It's a moot point anyway because making such a change would require an amendment to the constitution and that's never going to happen.

[Novara]

7. Right. In Michigan, term limits means doing the bidding of donors to ensure your future career

We have legislators beholden to donors, not voters, because they are term-limited out and they're arranging for a soft place to land once they're out. Term limits don't work. These people don't give a shit about constituents because they don't have to, once they've been elected. Hence, all the recent corruption charges brought against legislators here (the great majority are republicans - I know you're all so surprised).

I can easily see the same happening with term limits for the SCOTUS. You know you have a limited time to make decisions so you make them to ensure your future.

What would be most effective is an ethics program with real teeth and an oversight board who can enforce the ethics code, including forcing recusals and booting someone off the bench when necessary. If they were forced to toe the line or lose their lifetime tenure, I'd bet we see a lot less corruption.

[BaronChocula]

4. In saying "none of them"

did he mean none of the nine or none of the six conservatives?

[BlueMTexpat]

5. My question too. eom

[orleans]

11. great question nt

[truthisfreedom]

6. "Aww come on, everyone. We've all been married

to a vindictive, unpredictable boorish partner who absolutely bullies us if we don’t let them get their way. We know what it’s like to try not to rock the boat at home. You come home, you’re a Supreme Court Justice, you’ve had a long day, and the wife is flying the flag upside down. The American public isn’t living in the house… the wife is. You go with the flow. You give her a few days to cool off, then quietly flip the flag over and hope she doesn’t notice. Easy peasy. No trouble at home.”

Actually not. I have no doubt Alito was ALL FOR IT, probably behind it, and someone else brought it to the attention of someone Alito was scared of so he quit the nonsense.

[et tu]

8. it appears he has been complicit

with the extreme rw to further j6
if pelosi hadn't reconvened to count
the electors. [https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218957782]
the flag is just a side issue, showing true colors : stealing the election is the goal.
start impeachment proceedings now!

[Mysterian]

9. It's such a stark contrast between the outstanding, conscientious justices Brown Jackson,

Kagan and Sotomayor .... and the corrupt, biased republican assholes.

[Martin68]

10. I question the contention that "none of them have clean hands."

I would agree that none of the conservative justices have clean hands - although I don't remember seeing any stories about Roberts' ethics.