Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and a group of fellow House progressives introduced articles of impeachment against Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, accusing the two conservative Supreme Court justices of refusing to recuse themselves from cases in which they had a "personal bias or prejudice concerning a party" and failing to accurately disclose income and gifts from Republican megadonors.
The articles additionally charge Thomas with not recusing himself from "matters involving his spouse's financial interest in cases before the court."
Their alleged improprieties have created an "unchecked corruption crisis on the Supreme Court" that "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," Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. She was joined by co-sponsors 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., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y.
Thomas and Alito have been the subject of a flood of reports from investigative news outlet ProPublica that have revealed their financial ties to donors who have had business before the court, which they failed to disclose. Alito has also landed in trouble for pro-insurrection flags that have been flown in front of his homes in Virginia and New Jersey, calling into question his impartiality in cases related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Amid public outcry over their paid luxury vacations and other controversies, the Supreme Court adopted a code of conduct that, while being the first of its kind in the court's history, lacks an enforcement mechanism. Efforts by Senate Democrats to open the door to investigate judicial misconduct were blocked by Republicans, who called the effort "constitutional overreach."
The justices have largely dismissed and denied the reports about them, with Alito complaining that ProPublica ran a hit piece because they didn't like his rulings. Thomas' personal attorney claimed said last year that his client “has always strived for full transparency and adherence to the law.”
