AOC Intros Impeachment Articles Against Alito, Thomas

WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., introduced articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Jr. on Wednesday, accusing them of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” by refusing to recuse themselves from cases in which they were connected and failing to disclose millions of dollars in gifts from well-heeled friends. 

“The unchecked corruption crisis on the Supreme Court has now spiraled into a constitutional crisis threatening American democracy writ large,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement posted to her congressional website.

“Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito’s pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements constitutes a grave threat to American rule of law, the integrity of our democracy, and one of the clearest cases for which the tool of impeachment was designed,” she continued.

The impeachment resolution against Thomas opens with a lengthy article citing Thomas’ failure to disclose “financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities, and transactions, among other information.”

“Over the course of at least 15 years, Justice Thomas and his wife, Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, have received gifts of significant value from [billionaire] Harlan Crow without reporting the source, description, and value of such gifts,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

“Throughout such time, Mr. Crow has served on the board of directors of the American Enterprise Institute, which regularly files amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases and whose position Justice Thomas has regularly adopted,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez goes on to target Thomas’ refusal to recuse himself from matters that involved the legal or financial interests of his wife, Virginia ‘‘Ginni’’ Thomas.

“In consequence of Mrs. Thomas’ financial interest and compensation from entities that regularly file briefs before the Supreme Court, or from donors that fund such entities, Justice Thomas had a legal obligation under section 455 of title 28, United States Code, to disqualify himself from proceedings in which those entities participated,” the congresswoman wrote. 

“Yet on multiple occasions, Justice Thomas participated in such proceedings anyway. By flagrantly violating federal ethics law, Justice Thomas betrayed his judicial oath to ‘faithfully and impartially discharge and perform’ his duties ‘under the Constitution and laws of the United States.’”

She continued: “Justice Thomas participated in the consideration and decision of numerous proceedings concerning challenges to the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in which his spouse, Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, had an interest.” 

Ocasio-Cortez added later, “In all of this, Justice Thomas has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to the great prejudice  of the cause of law and justice, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”

The second impeachment resolution, against Alito, Ocasio-Cortez opens by assailing his refusal to recuse himself from several cases involving the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol by loyalists of former President Donald Trump after flying an upside-down American flag outside his home in the Fort Hunt section of Alexandria, Virginia.

“At the time,” the congresswoman wrote, “an upside-down American flag was widely understood to be an expression of support for the criminal efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election” and was a symbol displayed by those who attacked the Capitol.

“By displaying this flag, he showed support for domestic enemies of the United States, some of whom engaged in an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building, in violation of his constitutional oath of office,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

As a result of his action — which she characterized as a clear and very public display of his bias — Ocasio-Cortez argues Alito should have recused himself from at least three of the most consequential cases of the past term: Trump v. United States, which arose out of the claim Trump incited the attack on the Capitol; Fischer v. United States, which asked whether section1512(c)(2) of title 18, United States Code, a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, could be applied to the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol building; and Trump v. Anderson, which asked whether a state court could enforce Trump’s disqualification from office for engaging in insurrection. 

“By repeatedly — over a period of multiple years — flying flags associated with the attempt to overturn the election results and stop the peaceful transfer of power, Justice Alito publicly displayed a bias toward those who incited and executed the Jan. 6 insurrection,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

“Because Justice Alito engaged in a pattern of declaring sympathy with the parties before the Supreme Court in Trump, Fischer and Anderson, section 455 of title 28, United States Code, required Justice Alito to recuse from all matters related to the insurrection,” she continued. 

She added: “In all this, Justice Alito betrayed his constitutional oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,’ and his judicial oath to ‘faithfully and impartially discharge and perform’ his duties ‘under the Constitution and laws of the United States.’”

Ocasio-Cortez also accused Alito of engaging in “a pattern of corrupt conduct” that is incompatible with the trust and confidence placed in him as a justice of the Supreme Court.

He did so, she said, “by accepting and failing to disclose trips funded by private organizations and individuals, contrary to federal law and the ethical guidelines that govern the conduct of federal judges.”

“After accepting luxury travel from a wealthy individual with interests before the Supreme Court, Justice Alito did not disclose the gift in his financial disclosure reports as required by Ethics in Government Act and repeatedly chose not to recuse himself from hearing cases in which the wealthy individual had direct interests in violation of section 7353 of title 5, United States Code,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

“By failing to disclose the gift of luxury travel and failing to recuse from hearing cases affecting the donor’s business interests, Justice Alito has undermined the impartiality and integrity of the Supreme Court in violation of the public trust,” she continued. “His conduct has caused a reasonable person to believe the gift was offered and accepted in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act and on a basis that would cause a reasonable person to believe that he used his public office for his own private gain or for the private gain of the donor.”

The cosponsors of the resolution include 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.

The effort has also been endorsed by a number of progressive groups including Court Accountability, Free Speech for People, Get Free, MoveOn, NextGen America, Our Revolution, People’s Parity Project, UltraViolet, Women’s March, Take Back the Court.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue