by Misty Severi
Progressive Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York on Wednesday filed impeachment proceedings against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
Two conservative judges got entangled in ethical scandals and corruption accusations over the past year of failing to disclose luxury trips and refusing to recuse himself from some Supreme Court cases.
According to The New Yorker, the charges against Thomas also include failing to recuse himself from matters relating to his wife Ginny Thomas’ financial and political interests.
“The unchecked corruption crisis at the Supreme Court has now escalated into a constitutional crisis that threatens American democracy more broadly,” the congresswoman said. said in a statement. “The pattern of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito refusing to participate in important court cases in which they have extensively documented financial and personal ties poses a grave threat to the American rule of law, the integrity of our democracy, and is one of the clearest examples of the impeachment tool designed to stand.”
The allegations against Thomas relate to luxury trips he took over the years with family friend, billionaire Harlan Crowe, but which he did not mention on disclosure forms.
Alito’s ethics scandal centers on his failure to recuse himself from cases involving January 6 and Donald Trump after controversial pro-trump flags were spotted in front of two Alito homes.
“Their refusal to recuse themselves from specific cases and issues before the court involving their benefactors and spouses constitutes nothing short of a constitutional crisis,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Given the court’s proven inability to uphold its own legitimate conduct, Congress has an obligation to stop the threat this poses to our democracy and the hundreds of millions of Americans harmed by the corruption crisis unfolding in the courthouse.”
“Congress has a legal, moral and democratic obligation to impeach,” she added.
Only one other Supreme Court justice has ever been impeached. Samuel Chase was questioned by Congress in 1804 for refusing to dismiss biased jurors, but was later acquitted by the Senate.
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Misty Severi is a reporter for Just the News.
Photo by “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez” nrkbeta. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background image “United States Capitol Building” by Alejandro Barba.
