Alito, in other words, is entitled to privately support Trump, the January 6 insurrection and Christian nationalism, but he is not a normal private citizen. Although not bound by the ABA’s code, the principles upon which it is based should be uncontroversial: Alito holds public office and thus must uphold a higher standard of personal conduct, avoiding speech that would fatally undermine his claim of impartiality.

“[W]hen you’re a Supreme Court justice, you’re supposed to avoid giving off even a whiff of partisan bias,” former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance noted on her website. “Or religious favoritism. As a judge, and certainly, as a Supreme Court justice, you have that duty. Justice Alito flunks the test and flunks it badly.”

If nothing else, Alito has provided liberal critics grist and damaged the credibility of the decisions his right-wing supporters would like him to write going forward (the Supreme Court is expected to rule shortly on whether Trump and other former presidents enjoy immunity from prosecution). But now even institutionalists, who have been hesitant to damage what they see as the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, are arguing something must now be done.

-Charles R. Davis in Salon.com