Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) unveiled her impeachment articles against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito on Wednesday, following through on a threat from the beginning of the month to do so after the high court’s presidential immunity ruling.
Ocasio-Cortez said she introduced the articles as a response to the “unchecked corruption crisis on the Supreme Court” that has “spiraled into a Constitutional crisis.”
“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 American rule of law, the integrity of our democracy, and one of the clearest cases for which the tool of impeachment was designed,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a release.
The first impeachment resolution regarding Thomas accuses him of failing to disclose gifts and income, refusing to recuse himself from matters related to his spouse’s legal interest in cases before the court, and refusing to recuse himself from matters related to his spouse’s financial interest in cases before the court.
Alito faces accusations of refusing to recuse from cases before the court “in which he had a personal bias or prejudice against a party,” and failure to disclose gifts and income in his impeachment resolution.
Alito refused to recuse himself from cases involving Trump and Jan. 6, 2021, defendants over an upside-down flag in 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside his New Jersey beach home, arguing that his wife had legal rights to fly the flag.
Alito and Thomas have both denied wrongdoing in response to attacks that they have acted unethically, and Republicans have largely argued that critiques of Thomas and Alito are part of a Democratic smear campaign to delegitimize the court.
Ocasio-Cortez has been vocal in her opposition to several recent Supreme Court rulings, as well as calling on the top court to address ethics concerns surrounding Alito and Thomas regarding undisclosed gifts and alleged political symbols and statements.
After the Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that former President Donald Trump may have some immunity from prosecution related to actions he took in the aftermath of the 2020 election, Ocasio-Cortez said she intended to file impeachment articles upon lawmakers’ return to Capitol Hill after recess ended on Monday — but she did not specify which justices would face the articles.
Co-sponsors of the impeachment articles against Alito and Thomas are Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).
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Ocasio-Cortez’s impeachment resolutions will likely be referred to the GOP-led Judiciary Committee for review.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Supreme Court for comment.