Maine's Platner renews call to remove conservative Supreme Court justices

Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate in Maine’s U.S. Senate race, is renewing his call to remove conservative Supreme Court justices.

He has backed a push by some progressives to impeach Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who have been accused in recent years of corrupt conduct at the country’s highest court. The justices, denying any wrongdoing, have served on the bench for decades as protectors of the conservative ideology that may face a liberal revolt in the November elections.

“Why do we treat the Supreme Court as if it’s the only branch of government without any checks or balances on its power?” Platner wrote in a Thursday X post. “There’s already a compelling case to impeach and remove at least two justices.”

Thomas and Alito have been accused of failing to disclose financial interests relevant to the court and ruling in cases despite their personal biases. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed articles of impeachment against the justices in 2024, claiming an “unchecked corruption crisis” had spiraled into a constitutional catastrophe.

“Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel 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, the integrity of our democracy, and one of the clearest cases for which the tool of impeachment was designed,” she said in a statement.

The justices have rejected the accusations. Thomas said in 2023, when ProPublica reported on his acceptance of a friendly donor’s luxury gifts, that he didn’t think it was necessary to flag transactions he made with people outside the courtroom.

“Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” Thomas explained. “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”

Platner has nevertheless pressed for the removal of the court’s most conservative members. He told NBC News in April that there were “compelling” reasons to expel them.

Only one justice has ever been impeached. Samuel Chase, one of the Supreme Court’s earliest members, was tried by the House in 1804 over allegations of partisan conduct. The Senate, failing to reach the required two-thirds voting majority to convict, acquitted him.

Do you have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at rjlewis@sbgtv.com.