Thomas' questions came Monday in case in which the court is considering placing new limits on the reach of a federal law that bans people convicted of domestic violence from owning guns.
Thomas asked the Justice Department lawyer defending the government's prosecution whether the violation of any other law suspends a person's constitutional rights.
7 comments:
Hot damn, they won't be able to shut him up now.
Don't let the sneaks take away our 2nd Amendment, Clarence!
Thomas spoke up because Scalia.
Scalia was a voluminous inquisitor and Thomas figured now that Scalia is not there all that time is going to be taken up by the left wingers.
Not fair.
Probably Thomas couldn't get a word end edgewise with Scalia there.
JOKING.
I think Lem has it. Someone on the conservative Constitutional interpretation needs to have a voice and by default it seems to fall to Thomas now in the absence of Scalia.
Here's Justice Thomas on the subject:
"I think there are far too many questions," he said in a 2009 interview with C-SPAN, according to a report in USA Today. "Some members of the court like that interaction. ... I prefer to listen and think it through more quietly."
"I think you should allow people to complete their answers and their thought and to continue their conversation," he added, in an apparent dig directed at his colleagues. "I find that coherence that you get from a conversation far more helpful than the rapid-fire questions. I don't see how you can learn a whole lot when there are 50 questions in an hour."
Having argued at the appellate level, I concur! Some people talk just to hear themselves talk, so pleased with their own cleverness. And they're judges so everyone in the gallery and before the court is obliged to larf it up. (We're not their on our own behalves.) Some judges (Scalia) are worth the price of admission. Others, not so much. I also think the same holds true for lawyers. Don't feel obligated to fill up the time allotted. Don't feel obligated to fill up the space with your voice. Make your argument, field the questions, and sit down. Don't be a nuisance and linger about. If it's an interesting argument, the justices are going to have questions that will run out the clock.
I think Justice Thomas is talking now because he's the last conservative on the court.
"there"
I heard on MSNBC that his first question was "Where da white womens at?"
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