AOC has made it her personal mission to bring down the Supreme Court.
Representatives Jamie Raskin from Maryland and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York have raised significant concerns about the ethical standards of the Supreme Court, especially in light of recent reports regarding Justices Thomas and Alito receiving gifts during their tenure.
In a conversation with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Raskin criticized the Supreme Court, saying, “It’s the highest court in the land with the lowest ethical standards.” He highlighted that Supreme Court Justices are unique among government officials in that they are not subject to a binding code of ethics. “There is no mechanism to hold any of them accountable,” Raskin pointed out, calling it “outrageous” that justices, including Thomas and Alito, have reportedly received substantial gifts.
Raskin and Ocasio-Cortez, who both serve on the House Oversight Committee, announced their plans to introduce legislation aimed at imposing ethical standards on Supreme Court Justices. “Congressman Raskin and I will be proposing new legislation to ensure the Supreme Court adheres to the same $50 gift limit that applies to members of Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez stated during her interview with Hayes.
The push for accountability comes after Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed previously unreported international trips funded by his friend, conservative businessman Harlan Crow. This revelation followed increasing media and congressional scrutiny over Thomas’s ethics. Additionally, Justice Alito has faced accusations of misconduct from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Some Democratic senators have urged Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election, including issues of Trump’s immunity, after reports surfaced of Alito displaying an upside-down American flag and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at his residences following the January 6 Capitol riot.
Ocasio-Cortez further criticized the Supreme Court’s claim to independence, likening it to a “Scout’s Promise” approach to accountability. She warned, “Allowing any one of our coequal branches to be entirely unaccountable to the others risks authoritarianism, tyranny, and the abuse of power in the United States. This is structurally unsustainable.”
She concluded by affirming Congress’s authority over the Supreme Court: “The question is not whether Congress has jurisdiction and power over the Supreme Court, but rather what measures we will take to control a fundamentally unaccountable and rogue court.”