Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced articles of impeachment against U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. The move comes amid allegations of financial misconduct and a lack of transparency from the justices regarding gifts and favors received while serving on the court.
“The unchecked corruption crisis on the Supreme Court has now spiraled into a constitutional crisis threatening American democracy writ large,” Ocasio-Cortez stated in a press release. “Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito’s pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court, in which they have 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.”
“Congress has a legal, moral, and democratic obligation to impeach,” she said.
This announcement follows calls from Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon for U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate potential violations of federal ethics and tax laws by Justice Thomas.
Justice Thomas has faced scrutiny for failing to disclose luxury travel funded by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, as reported by ProPublica earlier this year. This included lavish vacations and private jet flights, raising questions about Thomas’s impartiality in cases where Crow’s interests were at stake. Similarly, Justice Alito has been criticized for a 2008 trip on a private jet owned by a hedge fund manager who later had business before the court.
Both justices have denied any wrongdoing, asserting that they followed all required ethics and disclosure rules. Despite these assurances, public and congressional pressure has mounted, leading the Supreme Court to adopt its own code of ethics last year. However, enforcement of this code is left to the discretion of the individual justices, a point of contention for many critics.
In her impeachment articles, Ocasio-Cortez emphasized the constitutional imperative for judicial accountability.
“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,” it read.
The articles of impeachment are co-sponsored by several progressive members of the House, including Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, Rashida Tlaib, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Delia Ramirez, Maxwell Frost, Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, and Jasmine Crockett.
GOP-controlled House
Despite the bold move, the likelihood of the articles advancing in the current GOP-controlled House is slim. This impeachment effort is the most assertive action taken by Democrats to address perceived ethical violations by the Supreme Court, reflecting broader concerns about the court’s integrity and the need for more stringent oversight.
The introduction of these articles highlights a growing frustration among House Democrats, who have signaled their intention to prioritize Supreme Court ethics should they regain control of the House. They have proposed various pieces of legislation aimed at regulating the Supreme Court through an enforceable code of ethics or expanding the number of justices, though these measures face significant hurdles in the current political landscape.
Most recently, the Supreme Court has recently ruled that former President Donald Trump had presumptive immunity for actions taken as part of his official duties during his presidency. This ruling comes amidst various legal challenges facing Trump, including federal and state charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the handling of classified documents.
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