New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The progressive lawmaker claimed in a statement released on Wednesday that the two conservatives have a “pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements,” additionally contending that their conduct threatens “the integrity of our democracy.”
Ocasio-Cortez submitted three impeachment articles against Thomas surrounding his alleged “failure to disclose” income, reimbursements, transactions, and property interests, as well as his “refusal to recuse” from cases related to the legal and financial interests of his wife, who works as a conservative attorney and activist. The two articles filed against Alito involve his alleged “refusal to recuse” from cases where he has a “personal bias or prejudice concerning a party,” as well as his “failure to disclose” financial income, gifts, and reimbursements.
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “These failures alone would amount to a deep transgression worthy of standard removal in any lower court, and would disqualify any nominee to the highest court from confirmation.”
Justices can be removed from the Supreme Court upon a vote of impeachment in the House, which requires a simple majority, followed by a trial and conviction in the Senate, which requires a two-thirds supermajority. Justice Samuel Chase was the only member of the Supreme Court to be impeached in American history and was ultimately acquitted by the Senate in 1805.
Thomas and Alito are known as two of the most conservative members of the Supreme Court, often provoking criticism from progressives over their opinions. The impeachment articles come immediately after the Supreme Court produced landmark decisions on firearm regulations, the administrative state, and other matters.
Thomas was nominated by President George H.W. Bush and started his tenure in 1991, while Alito was nominated by President George W. Bush and started his tenure in 2006.