While talk of impeaching the president has become pretty typical in the United States over the last eight years, recent action from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has left many wondering: Can you impeach a Supreme Court justice?
On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez introduced articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito following increased scrutiny over separate incidents involving the judges.
The process of impeaching a Supreme Court justice is not much different from that of a sitting president.
Congress is the only body that has the authority to remove an Article III judge, which includes Supreme Court justices.After a member of the House brings forward the articles of impeachment, a simple majority is needed to approve them.
If the articles are approved, a trial in the Senate would follow, and a two-thirds majority would be needed to convict. That would require 67 out of the 100 votes to be in favor of impeachment.
One Supreme Court justice has been impeached, as Associate Justice Samuel Chase was impeached by the House in 1805, though he won his trial in the Senate.
However, it remains unlikely that AOC’s resolution will pass through the GOP-controlled House for either of the justices.
Still, in the resolution filed against Thomas, AOC claims he engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by failing to report travel accommodations and tuition for his grandnephew that was gifted to him by a conservative mega-donor.
The measure contains three articles of impeachment and accuses Thomas of undermining the court’s “impartiality and integrity” by accepting the gifts and failing to disclose them in his annual financial reports.
Thomas was also scrutinized over his refusal to recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election. His impartiality was called into question due to his wife, Ginni Thomas, and her involvement in certain activities as a Conservative activist.
The resolution filed against Alito contains two articles. It stems from a recent controversy over flags that were flown outside two of his residences that were connected with the “Stop the Steal” movement following the 2020 election.
Alito has maintained that his wife and that she had every constitutional right to do so. However, Ocasio-Cortez’s resolution says that the flags being flown showed a “lack of impartiality” by Alito, though he failed to recuse himself from cases involving former President Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Still, Alito told Democrats that a “reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that this event does not meet the applicable standard for recusal.”
Also mentioned in the impeachment resolution are claims that Alito failed to disclose trips funded by unnamed individuals who have interests before the Supreme Court.
While it’s not expected to pass through the House, Ocasio-Cortez has made a statement for her party by filing the resolutions.
“Given the court’s demonstrated inability to preserve its own legitimate conduct, it is incumbent upon Congress to contain the threat this poses to our democracy and the hundreds of millions of Americans harmed by the crisis of corruption unfurling within the court. Congress has a legal, moral, and democratic obligation to impeach,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement.