Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Wednesday that impeaching Supreme Court justices is among the options Democrats are prepared to pursue once they take control of Congress, telling CNN's Manu Raju that "all options are on the table" — and specifically pointing at the Court.
The comments came in an interview with CNN's "OutFront," conducted after Democrats swept the House and Senate in last week's midterm elections. Asked about impeaching administration officials, Ocasio-Cortez broadened the threat beyond the executive branch. "I think we should leave all options on the table," she said. "This Supreme Court as well has legalized a lot of his criminality."
The exchange was clipped and circulated by Blaze Media's X account, which posted the question-and-answer with the caption: "CNN: 'Do you try to impeach Trump?' AOC: 'I think we should leave all options on the table. This Supreme Court as well has legalized a lot of his criminality.'"
Ocasio-Cortez also suggested Democrats may not wait for the new Congress to be seated. Asked about an impeachment effort against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, she pointed to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who has told ABC News he plans to reintroduce a privileged resolution seeking Hegseth's removal — potentially before the incoming Congress convenes. Massie's resolution lists eight articles of impeachment, including an allegation that Hegseth violated the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
On the broader question of impeaching President Trump, Ocasio-Cortez said, "Well, hopefully we don't even have to wait for the new Congress." She described a coming agenda of "many, many, many investigations," subpoenas, and committee work, saying Democrats intend to "follow wherever the evidence takes us."
Her remarks drew a sharp response from Republicans, who accused Democrats of pre-committing to political retribution before they have even been sworn in."
The Constitution gives the House the power to impeach federal officials, including Supreme Court justices, by a simple majority. Conviction in the Senate requires two-thirds of senators present. No Supreme Court justice has ever been removed through impeachment; the last serious effort, against Justice Samuel Chase in 1805, ended in acquittal and helped establish the norm that impeachment should not be used to punish judicial rulings.
Ocasio-Cortez's comments come as Democrats prepare to assume committee gavels in January. The Bulwark, the anti-Trump outlet founded by Bill Kristol, has urged Democrats to focus on damaging Trump's poll numbers and reputation rather than pursuing removal — a sign that even some of the party's media allies see the impeachment push as a political risk.
Whether House Democratic leaders will embrace a Supreme Court impeachment drive remains unclear. Ocasio-Cortez's phrasing left the question open by design: "all options" is not a commitment, but it is not a denial either.
Our Take
Let's be clear about what Ocasio-Cortez just did. She did not promise to impeach a justice. She did something more calculated: she floated it, on CNN, days after her party won control of Congress, and framed the Court itself as complicit in "criminality."
Understand what impeaching a Supreme Court justice would mean. It is not a policy fight. It is an attempt to delegitimize the branch of government that just spent a year handing down rulings Democrats despise. The message to every justice who votes the wrong way is simple: your seat is conditional. That is not how a republic settles disagreements about the law. That is how a machine settles scores.
And notice the sequencing. First the subpoenas. Then the investigations. Then the impeachments — Hegseth, maybe Trump, and now the Court. They told us exactly what the next two years look like, and they told us before they were even sworn in.
Patriots, this is why November mattered, and why the fight does not end at the ballot box. The party that lost the White House and lost Congress in 2024 is now promising to use the only lever it has left: the power to investigate and remove. Call your representatives. Demand they refuse to normalize this. Because if "all options are on the table" now, the question is not whether they mean it — it is how far they will go to prove it.
