Justice Thomas asks questions in court, 1st time in 10 years

And three years ago, Justice Thomas did speak at an argument, but it was to crack a joke rather than to ask a question.

Thomas’ question came in Voisine v United States, a case revolving around the loss of constitutional rights due to a misdemeanor charge of domestic abuse.

Justice Thomas, who hasn’t questioned an attorney since February 22, 2006, spoke up: “One question”, he said, causing reporters to snap to attention and reach for their pens.

“Everyone leaned in disbelieving”, said Slate’s Supreme Court writer Dahlia Lithwick, who was in the Court room.

Thomas and Eisenstein went back and forth for five minutes, focusing largely on the impact that the domestic violence gun ban has on Second Amendment rights.

“Ms. Eisensten, one question”, Thomas said. (Kennedy joined Heller but isn’t a Second Amendment absolutist like Thomas; Breyer dissented from Heller.) Kennedy mentioned laws that indefinitely regulate sex offenders’ liberty, though it was a weak example, because those laws do not suspend any fundamental rights absolutely and indefinitely.

Thomas has been very adamant about his silence in previous years. It was one of a number of questions raised by Thomas. Antonin Scalia’s death may make the long-time silence justice a more active part of the court in the months ahead.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has said he prefers reviewing written arguments to oral arguments.

[Thomas] wanted to know “how long” the suspension of Second Amendment rights was for people prohibited under federal law to possess firearms, and he pressed [assistant solicitor general Ilana] Eisenstein to name any other legal analog where the federal government could permanently curtail constitutional rights following a conviction for an unrelated offense.

Thomas’ courtroom silence is rare. “Justice Thomas has indicated that he sees no reason to talk for this objective, and I have to say I kind of admire him for it”.

Thomas noted that a conviction under the federal statute in question “suspends a constitutional right”-the right of individuals to own guns, as established in 2008’s decision, District of Columbia v. Heller”.

He has also said he is self-conscious about the way he speaks, partly because he had been teased about the dialect he grew up speaking in rural Georgia. Scalia, who sat next to Thomas for seven years, was renowned for frequently questioning lawyers with energy and aggression. Winkler asked in his email, before going ahead and answering the question himself. “I think we should listen to lawyers who are arguing the cases”. “I think it’s unnecessary in deciding cases to ask that many questions, and I don’t think it’s helpful”, Thomas told Harvard Law School in 2013, adding that “most of the work is done in the briefs”.