Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be impeached Thursday after a bombshell report exposed that he’d received gifts, including years of luxury trips, from a billionaire Republican megadonor — and didn’t disclose them.
“This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish,” she tweeted on Thursday. “Thomas must be impeached.”
“Barring some dramatic change, this is what the Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights,” she continued.
A ProPublica investigation published Thursday morning revealed that the conservative justice had accepted extravagant gifts from Harlan Crow, a Texas real estate magnate who’s donated millions of dollars to groups devoted to the conservative legal movement.
“For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show,” the report said.
Thomas has reportedly taken trips around the world on Crow’s superyacht and private jet, and has joined Crow at Bohemian Grove, an exclusive all-male retreat in California, and Camp Topridge, Crow’s private upstate New York resort boasting more than 25 fireplaces and a lifesize replica of Hagrid’s hut.
This isn’t the first time AOC has gone after Thomas: Last March, the New York Democrat called for him to resign after news reports revealed that his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, urged then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to help overturn the 2020 presidential election.
She was echoing similar calls from fellow left-wing House Dems, including Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Both joined a rally outside the Supreme Court last July to call for Thomas’s impeachment, citing his wife’s longstanding involvement with the conservative movement.
“Our failure to hold him accountable will further delegitimize the court and will embolden other justices to act in lockstep with his actions,” Omar said at the rally.
Any effort to impeach Thomas would face little hope in the GOP-controlled House. Key Senate Democrats have also poured cold water on the prospect.
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) described an impeachment last July as “not realistic” and “a mistake,” but also said that Thomas should show “good judgment.”
“If this court is going to be credible, it has to be as apolitical as possible,” he said.
