Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced articles of impeachment against conservative US supreme court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the Democratic congresswoman’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.
It follows calls from two US senators, Sheldon Whitehouse and Ron Wyden, that the US attorney general should appoint a special counsel to investigate potential criminal violations of federal ethics and tax laws by Thomas.
These are just the most recent protests in Washington circles concerning the two justices, amid accusations of financial corruption over gifts and favors and lack of political neutrality in their work.
Ocasio-Cortez, the high-profile progressive New York representative, said in the statement: “The unchecked corruption crisis on the supreme court has now spiraled into a constitutional crisis threatening American democracy writ large.
“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 constitute 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.”
Her action was co-sponsored by seven other Democratic House members and will make a splash while having a negligible chance of making meaningful progress in the Republican-controlled chamber.
More details soon …
Reuters contributed reporting
