Say Something Real
By Michelle Bryant
Michelle Bryant
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is calling for the impeachment of Uncle Thomas and Shady Sam. Introducing articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, AOC knows that the move is DOA (dead on arrival). The process to impeach a judge is arduous and has rarely been achieved.
First, we need to understand that only Congress can remove what’s called an Article III judge, which is a Supreme Court justice. All it takes is a simple majority of the House of Representatives to approve articles of impeachment and then a trial would be required in the U.S. Senate. In the history of this country, only one U.S. Supreme Court Judge has ever been impeached. It occurred 219 years ago and ended with the justice, Samuel Chase, being acquitted.
Yet the move by AOC, which has been prompted by the failures of these judges to disclose gifts they’ve taken while on the job, is an opportunity to further call attention to an out-of-control U.S. Supreme Court. According to a recent analysis performed by a judicial reform group called Fix the Court, “Thomas received 103 gifts with a total value of more than $2.4 million between 2004 and 2023”.
The report goes on to say that “in contrast, Thomas’ fellow justices over the same period accepted a total of just 93 gifts worth a combined value of only about $248,000, according to the nonprofit group. Thomas’ fellow conservative justice Samuel Alito accounted for the lion’s share of that value. Fix the Court’s analysis found that Alito accepted 16 gifts worth a combined $170,095. Fix the Court identified another 101 “likely gifts” — with a total estimated value of almost $1.8 million —that Thomas received in the form of free trips and lodging from billionaire businessman Harlan Crow, and at the exclusive Bohemian Grove Club. Counting those gifts, Thomas’ total two-decade haul is valued at nearly $4.2 million.
While AOC’s resolution deals with unreported gifts, many around the country are equally concerned about clear conflicts of interest that these two justices have demonstrated, as well. Whether the actions of their spouses to help interfere with the 2020 Presidential election results, as in the case of Thomas’ wife or Alito’s wife and the flag displays that Trump sympathizers have used, you have to question the influence of what goes on in their home on the decisions the justices are making on the court.
We need to reign in what is happening with the court. Everything from lifetime appointments to ethics rules should be on the table. We should look at expanding the court, putting in stiff rules to prevent the stealing of judicial appointments by Congress, as in the case with U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell in the past.
As an African-American, I know that rights have been taken, for granted and curtailed by who has been seated on the nation’s highest court at any given time. It is time we insulate the court from political winds, donors, and party ideology.