July 11 (UPI) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., filed articles of impeachment Wednesday against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito for creating what she called an “unchecked corruption crisis on the Supreme Court.”
Ocasio-Cortez accused Thomas and Alito of failing to recuse themselves from cases “in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements,” which she said “constitutes a grave threat to American rule of law.”
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez said Wednesday in a statement.
“And their refusal to recuse from specific matters and cases before the court in which their benefactors and spouses are implicated represents nothing less than a constitutional crisis.”
Justices Thomas and Alito have not responded to Wednesday’s impeachment articles, which include a “failure to disclose financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities and transactions.”
Last month, a Senate Judiciary Committee report revealed Thomas did not immediately disclose three trips, paid for by Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, which included private jet travel and an eight-day yacht excursion.
Last year, a report by ProPublica accused Alito of taking a luxury fishing trip, more than 15 years ago, with a billionaire Republican donor.
Thomas faces two additional impeachment articles related to his “refusal to recuse from matters concerning his spouse’s legal interest in cases before the court,” as well as her “financial interest in cases before the court.”
A second impeachment article against Alito refers to a “refusal to recuse from cases in which he had a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party in cases before the court.”
Alito and Thomas have faced calls to recuse themselves from cases related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and from last week’s presidential immunity decision. Thomas’s wife was reportedly involved in the “Stop the Steal” movement, as Alito has come under fire for an upside-down flag at his home connected to the same movement. Alito said his wife was responsible for the flag, as both justices refused calls to recuse.
Following the high court’s decision last week to grant partial immunity to former President Donald Trump, Ocasio-Cortez vowed to file impeachment articles against at least one Supreme Court justice.
The New York Congresswoman also introduced the High Court Gift Ban Act last week that would prohibit Supreme Court justices from receiving gifts valued at more than $50.
Last year, Ocasio-Cortez called for the impeachment of Justice Thomas following reports he accepted gifts and luxury travel, but did not follow through because the articles were unlikely to advance in the Republican-controlled house.
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, D-N.Y.; and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, joined Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday to co-sponsored the impeachment articles against Justices Thomas and Alito.
