U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito for what she said was their failure to report gifts and refusal to recuse themselves from cases in which they were in conflict.
Given the Supreme Court’s refusal to address the issue itself, “Congress has a legal, moral and democratic obligation to impeach,” the New York Democrat said in a press release Wednesday.
Progressives and others criticized both justices over reports that they accepted vacations from wealthy people and did not recuse themselves from cases despite conflicts they said were created by their spouses.
See more information: The Most Interesting Revelations in Supreme Court Justices’ Financial Disclosures
The success of either resolution against the court’s two most conservative justices is unlikely, given Republican control of the House.
Conservatives have denounced the Supreme Court’s ethical concerns as a political ploy by the left to undo the 6-3 conservative majority that struck down the constitutional right to abortion, undermined affirmative action and voting rights, strengthened gun rights, and weakened the power of federal regulatory agencies. .
Mark Paoletta, a conservative lawyer and vocal supporter of Thomas, called the effort at X a “Democratic war against his adversaries.”
The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Samuel Chase was the only judge to be impeached by the House, in 1804. He was acquitted by the Senate.
Letters, criticism
The decision to impeach Alito and Thomas follows efforts by Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats to rein in what they see as corruption in the Supreme Court, which polls show has been mired in historically low public approval ratings.
Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote to Chief Justice John Roberts on June 20 urging him to investigate Thomas and Alito. Democratic senators sent similar requests to Roberts.
Ocasio-Cortez and Raskin also introduced a bill on June 25 to prohibit judges from accepting gifts greater than $50. That proposal is also unlikely to go anywhere.
The Supreme Court has thrown cold water on pressure from Capitol Hill Democrats and others to force changes in how judges behave when they’re off the courtroom.
Critics say a code of conduct adopted by judges in 2023 for the first time does not go far enough to address ethics and other concerns.
See more information: A mistake in the 1970s still haunts Supreme Court ethics
“Given the court’s demonstrated inability to preserve its own legitimate conduct, it is up to Congress to contain the threat this poses to our democracy and to the hundreds of millions of Americans harmed by the corruption crisis unfolding within the court,” he said. Ocasio-Cortez. in your statement.
Alleged violations
In her impeachment resolution that attracted more than a half-dozen progressive cosponsors, Ocasio-Cortez revisited well-publicized gaps over the years by Thomas in disclosing travel, gifts and other largesse.
Unreported gifts cited in the resolution include a 2019 trip to Indonesia estimated to be worth approximately $500,000, tuition payments to Thomas’ great-nephew worth more than $6,000 per month, and the sale of a family in 2014 worth $133,363.
The resolution also cites 2020 texts from Thomas’ wife, Ginni, to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about attempts to overturn the presidential election and her participation in the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, before the Capitol riot as reasons why the justice system should have recused itself from election-related cases.
By failing to do so, Thomas “flagrantly” violated ethics rules, the resolution said.
The resolution seeking to expel Alito also largely focuses on the activities of his wife, Martha-Ann. Alito previously stated that he flew an American flag upside down at his Northern Virginia residence in early 2021. Although Alito’s claim that the flag was raised in response to a neighborhood dispute, critics have noted its association with the “Stop the Steal” movement.
“Justice Alito has demonstrated sympathy for efforts to overturn the 2020 election by allowing symbols supporting those efforts to be displayed outside of his residences,” the resolution said.
Alito declined to recuse himself from related cases on Jan. 6, including the court’s July 1 ruling that suggested broad presidential immunity for former President Donald Trump.
Co-sponsors of the impeachment resolution included 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.), Jamaal Bowman (DN.Y.), and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
House Republicans impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this year. The Democratic-led Senate quickly dropped the charges against him.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
