Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is attempting to oust two major Supreme Court Justices, arguing that their refusal to recuse themselves from certain cases "constitutes a grave threat to the American rule of law.”
The Squad member introduced articles of impeachment on Wednesday against Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas over alleged undisclosed gifts Thomas received and political altercations involving Alito's home.
The unchecked corruption crisis on the Supreme Court has now spiraled into a Constitutional crisis threatening American democracy writ large. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito’s pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements constitutes a grave threat to the American rule of law, the integrity of our democracy, and one of the clearest cases for which the tool of impeachment was designed. Justice Thomas and Alito’s repeated failure over decades to disclose that they received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court is explicitly against the law. And their refusal to recuse from the specific matters and cases before the court in which their benefactors and spouses are implicated represents nothing less than a constitutional crisis. These failures alone would amount to a deep transgression worthy of standard removal in any lower court and would disqualify any nominee to the highest court from confirmation in the first place. Via Ocasio-Cortez’s statement.
The first charge is related to an upside-down American and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside of Alito’s home, in which he refused to recuse himself from two Trump-related cases that were pending at the time.
The second involves a fishing trip to Alaska that Alito took with hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer.
In the articles of impeachment against Thomas, AOC cited gifts he accepted from GOP donor Harlan Crow and his refusal to abandon cases allegedly involving his wife's legal and financial issues.
The Supreme Court has become consumed by a corruption crisis beyond its control.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2024
Today’s ruling represents an assault on American democracy. It is up to Congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture.
I intend on filing articles of impeachment upon our return.
AOC’s resolution was co-sponsored by Democrat Reps. Barbara Lee (CA), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Maxwell Frost (FL.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), and Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.).