Source: CSPAN screenshot / CSPAN screenshot
New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has taken a step towards possibly making the U.S. Supreme Court a little less conservative and a little less buddy-buddy with Republican donors and lobbyists who are trying to make America great again by dismantling progressive policies and returning the nation to a society where white men thrive and marginalized people are pushed further into the margins. On Wednesday, AOC introduced articles of impeachment against justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito over their refusal to recuse themselves from certain cases, repeated failures to disclose luxury gifts and other financial help they’ve received, as all justices are required to do annually.
Today, I introduced articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
Read my full statement: https://t.co/is5EiLXw56 pic.twitter.com/AGGZhuZUm4
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) July 10, 2024
“Absent resignation, they must be removed,” Ocasio-Cortez said on the House floor. “Because of Alito’s and Thomas’s refusals to recuse, everyday Americans cannot, should not and will not believe that these justices, and consequently the court they serve, is working to uphold the Constitution and put the country ahead of their own individual self-interests. Reasonable Americans will and do believe that Justices Thomas and Alito are prone and subject to corruption, that the institution failing to punish them is broken and that consequently their impeachment is a constitutional imperative and our congressional duty,” she continued.
Corruption, without consequence, infects all it touches. Congress must exercise its powers to impeach.
The corruption of Justices Thomas & Alito constitutes a clear danger to our democracy. I moved to impeach them because it is the right thing to do for the American people. pic.twitter.com/eOscx9avE1
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) July 11, 2024
Ocasio-Cortez accused both justices of demonstrating a “yearslong pattern of misconduct and failure to recuse in cases bearing their clear personal and financial involvement,” which she said, “represents an abuse of power and threat to our democracy, fundamentally incompatible with continued service on our nation’s highest court.”
Here’s a rundown of the offenses Thomas and Alito allegedly committed, which prompted AOC’s filing via NBC News:
The first charge centers on two controversial flags that were flown outside Alito’s homes — an upside-down American flag and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag. Both have been carried in recent years by members of the “Stop the Steal” movement, whose supporters claim President Joe Biden did not lawfully win the 2020 presidential election. Alito has said it was his wife’s decision to fly the flags.
Alito declined to recuse himself from two Trump-related cases that were pending before the court when the existence of the flags was first reported.
The second charge against Alito appears to refer to his relationship with hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, who ProPublica reported took Alito on a fishing trip to Alaska that Alito did not disclose in ethics reports. Alito later did not recuse himself from cases involving Singer.
Thomas’ impeachment article centers on his “failure to disclose financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities, and transactions, among other information, refusal to recuse from matters concerning his spouse’s legal interest in cases before the court [and] refusal to recuse from matters involving his spouse’s financial interest in cases before the court.”
Thomas’ relationship with GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow has been the subject of intense scrutiny for months.
Thomas has also been under scrutiny due to the involvement of his wife, Ginni Thomas, and her obsessive efforts to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election in Arizona based on nonexistent election fraud. Since at least 2022, Democratic legislators have called on Thomas to recuse himself from cases involving Trump, including all 2020 election cases, and, more recently, a constitutional challenge to Trump’s reelection candidacy and his absurd claims that he should have “total immunity” for alleged crimes he committed while president.
AOC’s resolutions were co-sponsored by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y).
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