Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The impeachment resolutions for both judges cite “failure to disclose financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities and transactions, among other information.”
Thomas’ ruling also refers to his “refusal to recuse himself from involvement in matters” involving his wife’s legal and financial interests.
Alito’s case cited “a refusal to recuse himself from cases where he had a personal bias or prejudice toward one of the parties in the cases before the court.”
The resolutions come amid a breakdown in Democratic unity as President Biden faces harsh criticism following last month’s debate, in which he curiously said, “We finally beat Medicare.”
Ocasio-Cortez has positioned herself firmly behind Biden as the nominee, while other Democrats in more vulnerable districts have called on her to step aside.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
‘The rampant corruption crisis in the Supreme Court has now become a constitutional crisis that threatens American democracy as a whole.’
The allegation against Alito relates to a pair of flags the judge had hanging outside his home: an upside-down American flag and a flag reading “Appeal to Heaven.” Alito has said it was his wife’s decision to place the flags, which have been carried by those who do not believe Joe Biden won the 2020 election, outside their home.
“As soon as I saw it I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days she refused,” he said.
Alito did not recuse himself from two Trump-related cases that were pending before the court at the time of the flag report.
The second charge against Alito relates to his relationship with billionaire Paul Singer, who paid for Alito to go on a luxury fishing trip to Alaska, according to a ProPublica report. He did not disclose the trip in his annual filing.
Alito did not recuse himself from cases involving the billionaire’s companies on multiple occasions when they later came before the court.
The impeachment resolutions for both judges cite “failure to disclose financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities and transactions, among other information.”
The charge against Thomas for revealing information about her relationship with billionaire Harlan Crow, which has now been widely reported. Thomas accepted lavish gifts: a trip to Bali, a license plate for one of her relatives and other trips by private jet and yacht.
ProPublica blew the lid off of Thomas’s undisclosed travels.
The resolutions were co-sponsored by several progressive members of the House of Representatives: ‘Representatives Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, Rashida Talib, Democrat of Michigan, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Democrat of Jamaica, Delia Ramirez, Democrat of Illinois, Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida, Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, and Jamaal Bowman, Democrat of New York.’