Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has introduced articles of impeachment against conservative Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas over their failure to disclose gifts they have received while serving on the court – a messaging move that will surely fail in the GOP-controlled House.
“Justice Thomas and Alito’s repeated failure over decades to disclose that they received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court is explicitly against the law,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. “And their refusal to recuse from the specific matters and cases before the court in which their benefactors and spouses are implicated represents nothing less than a constitutional crisis.”
“Congress has a legal, moral, and democratic obligation to impeach,” she said.
This is the latest example of House Democrats – led by some of their highest-profile members – prioritizing the Supreme Court in their campaign year messaging. They’ve previously signaled that, if they regain control of the House, they’d use the power of the gavel to investigate alleged ethical lapses by the justices.
CNN Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.