Articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are set to come up for a vote in the House, a devastating blow for Justices Alito and Thomas.
The impeachment resolutions against Thomas and Alito list impeachable offenses:
The first impeachment resolution included the following articles of impeachment against Judge Thomas:
- Failure to disclose information such as financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities and transactions.
- Refusing to recuse himself from matters involving the legitimate interests of his spouse in court cases.
- Refuse to recuse themselves from matters involving their spouse’s financial interests in court cases.
The second impeachment resolution included the following articles of impeachment against Judge Alito:
- Refusing to recuse himself from a case in which he has a personal bias or prejudice against a party in the case before the court.
- Failure to disclose information such as financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities and transactions.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said:
For decades, Judges Thomas and Alito repeatedly failed to disclose in court that they had received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business interests, which was clearly illegal. Their refusal to recuse themselves from specific matters and cases involving their sponsors and spouses is tantamount to a constitutional crisis. These failures alone constitute serious violations worthy of standard expungement in any lower court and would disqualify any nominee to the Supreme Court from the outset.
Given that the courts have proven incapable of upholding their own lawful conduct, Congress has a responsibility to contain this threat to our democracy and to the hundreds of millions of Americans harmed by the corruption crisis unfolding within the courts. Congress has a legal, moral, and democratic duty to impeach.
The resolutions themselves are devastating. The Thomas resolution, which runs to 15 pages, lays out how Justice Thomas was corrupt, inconsistent and failed to disclose to the American people the gifts he had received because he refused to recuse himself from cases affected by his wife’s political activities. Alito’s ten-page resolution details the judge’s failure to disclose gifts he received from wealthy conservatives and his failure to recuse himself.
Because these are privileged resolutions, congresswomen can force them to a vote on the House floor, but they will not pass. The attention they will receive will expose the corruption of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority and warn conservatives of what will happen if Democrats take back the House majority in November.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of Society of Professional Journalists and American Political Science Association
