AOC has filed articles of impeachment to Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. On Wednesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced impeachment articles on behalf of Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., introduced articles of impeachment Wednesday against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito over their refusal to recuse themselves from certain cases.

“Absent resignation, they must be removed,” Ocasio-Cortez declared in the House floor, saying she believes the justices are an obstacle against the supremacy of law.

“Because of Alito’s and Thomas’s refusals to recuse, everyday Americans cannot, should not and will not believe that these justices, and consequently the court they serve, is working to uphold the Constitution and put the country ahead of their own individual self-interests,” she told reporters Wednesday evening.

“Reasonable Americans will and do believe that Justices Thomas and Alito are prone and subject to corruption, that the institution failing to punish them is broken and that consequently their impeachment is a constitutional imperative and our congressional duty,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez claimed that both justices had displayed the “yearslong pattern of misconduct and failure to recuse in cases bearing their clear personal and financial involvement.”

She said that “represents an abuse of power and threat to our democracy, fundamentally incompatible with continued service on our nation’s highest court.”

The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comments regarding the impeachment article’s introduction.

They were also co-sponsored Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., Delia Ramirez from Illinois., Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. as well as Jamaal Bowman D-N.Y.

The initial charge is centered around two controversial flags carried outside Alito’s houses which include one that was an upside down American flag as well as the “Appeal to Heaven” flag. Both flags have been fanned in recent times by supporters who are part of”Stop The Steal,” or the “Stop the Steal” movement which claims that they are claiming that President Joe Biden did not lawfully have the right to win the 2020 presidential election. Alito has stated that that it was his wife’s choice to fly the flag.

Alito refused to remove himselffrom two cases related to Trump which were in the hands of the court at the time that the flags’ existence was first announced.

The second accusation against Alito is believed to be related to his connection to hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, who ProPublica has reported had taken Alito on fishing trips to Alaska which Alito did not mention in his ethics reports. Alito later decided not to withdraw himself from instances involving Singer.

Thomas the impeachment piece focuses around Thomas “failure to disclose financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities, and transactions, among other information, refusal to recuse from matters concerning his spouse’s legal interest in cases before the court [and] refusal to recuse from matters involving his spouse’s financial interest in cases before the court.”

Thomas’s connection to GOP Mega-donor Harlan Crow has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months.

A long-running investigation in the last year by ProPublica found the fact that Thomas has accepted extravagant gifts such as vacations and flights without not disclosing these on the official ethics forms.

Thomas has also drawn criticism from those who are critical of the political zeal of his wife Ginni Thomas especially the fact that she played her involvement in the former president Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the presidential election of 2020 in Arizona.

After Trump’s election Ginni Thomas, too, sent texts to the White House’s then Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to stand with Trump. She later admitted that she regrets sending these messages.

However, Democrats called on Clarence Thomas to withdraw himself from two lawsuits involving Trump: a constitutional contest against his presidential campaign as well as his claims to presidential immunity. Thomas was not able to recuse himself from either of the cases and both victories for Trump.

He did withdraw himself from an additional Jan. 6-related case in the month of October.

Lawrence Hurley

Contributed

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