Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Supreme Court justices who lied about Roe v. Wade as the court case that set the precedent they would respect during their Senate confirmation should be impeached.
Ocasio-Cortez said, “We had two conservative senators in the United States Senate, Senator Manchin and Collins, come out with a very explosive allegation that these, several Supreme Court justices misled them in, during their confirmation hearings and in the lean lean-up to their confirmation. This is a crisis of legitimacy. We have a Supreme Court justice whose wife participated on January 6 and who used his seat to vote against providing documents that potentially led to evidence of such to investigators in Congress. This is a crisis of legitimacy, and president Biden must address that.
Anchor Chuck Todd said, “It’s interesting you say that. I want to put up the Joe Manchin quote in particular. His reaction — because he used the word, he said, they testified under oath. He made sure that was in his release. It sounds like you believe, okay, he might as well be saying, they lied to him, that he feels like they lied to him.
Ocasio-Cortez said, “They lied.”
Todd continued, “You think the House Judiciary Committee should begin the process of an investigation there?”
Ocasio-Cortez said, “If we allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments to the highest court of the land and then issue, without basis, if you read these opinions, issue without basis, rulings that seem to undermine the human civil rights of the majority of Americans, we must see that through. There must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and hostile takeover of our democratic institutions. To allow that to stand is to allow that to happen, and what makes it particularly dangerous is that it sends a blaring signal to all future nominees that they can now lie to duly elected members of the United States Senate in order to secure Supreme Court confirmations, and seats on the Supreme Court.”
Todd said, “Do you think lying in a confirmation hearing is an impeachable offense?”
Ocasio-Cortez said, “I believe so. I believe so. I believe lying under oath is an impeachable offense. I believe violating federal law and not disclosing income from political organizations as Clarence Thomas did years ago is also potentially an impeachable offense. I believe that not recusing from cases with clear family members involved with deep violations with conflicts of interest is an impeachable offense and should be seriously considered, including by senators like Joe Manchin and Susan Collins.”
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