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Jun 26, 2022 - Politics & Policy

AOC says impeachment possible if Supreme Court justices lied under oath

Ivana Saric

Impeachment should be "very seriously considered" if Supreme Court justices lied in their confirmation hearings about their intentions to overturn Roe v. Wade, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told "Meet the Press" Sunday.

Driving the news: Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) have called into question comments made by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh during their confirmation hearings after the court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

  • Collins said the ruling was "inconsistent" with comments they made in their hearings and in meetings with her, when they had been "insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedents."
  • Manchin said that he had "trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent."

The big picture: "The Supreme Court has dramatically overreached its authority," Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that "this is a crisis of legitimacy," echoing comments made by Sen. Elizabeth Warren earlier Sunday.

  • "We had two conservative senators in the United States Senate, Sen. Manchin and Sen. Collins, come out with a very explosive allegation that several supreme court justices misled them during their confirmation hearings and in the lead-up to their confirmation," she added.

What they're saying: “If we allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments to the highest court of the land and then issue — issue without basis, if you read these opinions — rulings that deeply undermine the human civil rights of the majority of Americans, we must see that through,” she said.

  • "There must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and the hostile takeover of our democratic institutions,” she added.
  • "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."

The bottom line: "I believe lying under oath is an impeachable offense ... this is something that should be very seriously considered, including by senators like Joe Manchin and Susan Collins."

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