Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threatens to impeach Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas over reports of him receiving funding from a billionaire Republican donor.
Appearing on Thursday’s “Lever Time” podcast, Ocasio-Cortez said that Thomas’ close relationship with the donor in question is an “emergency” and a “crisis.”
The congresswoman also said that she would introduce the articles of impeachment if no other Democrat did.
AOC: He said himself a friend of 25 years. Justice Thomas has been on the court for 30 years and so to say what he is admitting in his statement.. is that he began this relationship with a billionaire and receiving these gifts after he was appointed to the Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/EEPyWaZ2Es
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 9, 2023
“Congress is out of session for the next week. And so that does give Democrats some time to strategize, and the way I feel about it is that, I do think articles need to be introduced,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“If we decide strategically that the actual author of those articles and who introduces them may not be me, that’s fine, I will support impeachment. But I just think that if no one’s going to introduce it, I would certainly be open to doing so and drafting them myself,” she continued. “I think this has gone far, far beyond any sort of acceptable standard in any democracy, let alone an American democracy.”
Democrats have been outraged by Thomas because of his wife’s involvement in conservative politics and, most recently, a report that alleged the justice had accepted expensive gifts from a GOP mega-donor without disclosing them.
According to an investigation published by ProPublica, Thomas’ close friendship with real estate developer Harlan Crow gave him access to a number of benefits, including free stays on Crow’s vast vacation property and the opportunity to travel in style with the Texas millionaire on his yacht and private plane.
In response to the report, Thomas released a statement on Friday describing Harlan and Kathy Crow as “among our dearest friends.”
“As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them,” the justice said. “Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.”
The ProPublica exposé prompted several Democratic lawmakers to demand that Congress impose a rigorous code of ethics on the Supreme Court.
