Just days after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) filed articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, Democratic lawmakers claimed Thomas took a free yacht trip to Russia.
They sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on July 3 detailing a number of “likely undisclosed gifts” that have been given to Thomas over the years, including an alleged yacht trip in 2003 to Russia and the Baltics and a helicopter ride to Yusupov Palace, St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hometown.
Both trips were allegedly paid for by Republican billionaire donor Harlan Crow.
The trips were first highlighted in the May 2023 bombshell ProPublica report
. St. Petersburg is home to the Yusupov Palace, where Putin has held and attended events for many years. It is unknown if Thomas met with the Russian leader during his visit, but Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, and Ron Wyden (D-OR), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, have questions that need answers.“The scale of the potential ethics violations by Justice Thomas, and the willful pattern of disregard for ethics laws, exceeds the conduct of other government officials investigated by the
Department of Justice for similar violations,” the letter read. “The breadth of the omissions uncovered to date, and the serious possibility of additional tax fraud and false statement violations by Justice Thomas and his associates, warrant the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate this misconduct.”The letter calls for Garland to hire a special prosecutor to investigate Thomas’ potential federal ethics and tax violations. Ocasio-Cortez called it “unchecked corruption.”
According to Fox News, Ocasio-Cortez filed articles of impeachment against both Thomas and Alito
, arguing the undisclosed gifts Thomas has received from wealthy donors and the drama surrounding Alito’s personal politics raises serious cause for concern. “Reasonable Americans will and do believe that Justices Thomas and Alito are prone and subject to corruption, that the institution failing to punish them is broken, and that, consequently, their impeachment is a constitutional imperative and our congressional duty,” she said in a recent speech on the House floor.“The abuses of power committed by Justice Thomas and Justice Alito are precisely the types of corruption that the frames understood was an existential threat to our democracy,” she added. “Instances like these and misconduct like that of Alito’s and Thomas’ are precisely why the framers gave us the tool of impeachment.”
Included in the filings are three articles of impeachment against Thomas, with charges involving the undisclosed gifts and his refusal to recuse himself in cases surrounding his wife Virginia’s legal and financial interests. The two against Alito include accusations of him refusing to recuse himself in cases involving his “personal bias or prejudice concerning a party” before the court.