|
The effort stands no chance of advancing in the
Republican-controlled House of Representatives. To remove an
official through this process, the House must vote to impeach
and the Senate then must vote to convict.
Democrats for years have criticized the court, which has a 6-3
conservative majority, over rulings that advanced causes popular
on the right. These have included rolling back abortion rights,
expanding gun rights, rejecting race-conscious collegiate
admissions and ruling that former presidents have broad immunity
from prosecution for official acts in office in a decision
favoring Donald Trump.
Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement that Thomas and Alito's
"pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before
the court in which they hold widely documented financial and
personal entanglements constitutes a grave threat to American
rule of law."
Some congressional Democrats have accused Thomas and Alito, two
of the court's most conservative justices, of ethical lapses.
Activists criticized Thomas following reports that he failed to
disclose accepting travel and lodging from a wealthy benefactor
and that his wife was involved in efforts to overturn Trump's
2020 election loss. Thomas has said that he regarded the travel
he accepted as personal hospitality not subject to disclosure
requirements.
Alito similarly faced criticism after the revelation that flags
associated with Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 results
were flown outside the justice's homes in Virginia and New
Jersey. Alito has said it was his wife, not him, who flew the
flags.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton and Makini Brice in Washington;
Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
