AOC and Raskin to introduce legislation that would rein in a 'rogue' Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said in an interview that she and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., will be introducing legislation to “rein in a fundamentally unaccountable and rogue” Supreme Court.

Her latest remarks come after she hosted a roundtable with Raskin and expert panelists Tuesday to address ethics concerns at the Supreme Court, during which she warned that the Supreme Court has been “captured and corrupted by money and extremism.”

Just last week, an analysis from the advocacy group Fix the Court found that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted more than $2 million in gifts over the last 20 years.

The group also noted that another 101 “likely gifts” to Thomas worth nearly $1.8 million stemming from free luxury travel and lodging he received from billionaire Harlan Crow and others.

Along with Thomas, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has also faced public scrutiny after reports that controversial flags were flown at his homes.

Ocasio-Cortez told MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes Tuesday night that, “it is not a question on of if Congress has jurisdiction and power over the Supreme Court. It is, what power are we going to exercise in order to rein in a fundamentally unaccountable and rogue court?”

“Congressman Raskin and myself will be introducing forthcoming legislation to even have the Supreme Court be subject to the same $50 gift rule that he and I are subject to, as everyone else who are members of Congress,” she added later.

Raskin said in the MSNBC interview that the Supreme Court has the “lowest ethical standards.”

“We need to clean that up. And that’s why we said we’re going to start with something simple that the whole country will be able to understand immediately and intuitively,” he said.

Contributing: Dan Morrison

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AOC and Raskin will introduce legislation to rein in Supreme Court