Clarence Thomas Asks A Question In Oral Arguments For First Time In 10 Years

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is on stage at the Duquesne University School of Law for "An Afternoon with Justice Clarence Thomas U.S. Supreme Court" in the Duquesne Union Ballroom on Tuesday April 9, 2013, i... Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is on stage at the Duquesne University School of Law for "An Afternoon with Justice Clarence Thomas U.S. Supreme Court" in the Duquesne Union Ballroom on Tuesday April 9, 2013, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Tribune Review,Sidney Davis) PITTSBURGH OUT MANDATORY CREDIT MORE LESS
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for the first time in a decade, asked questions from the bench during oral arguments, according to reporters present at Monday’s Supreme Court hearings. His questions pertained to the rights of domestic abuse offenders to have a gun, in a case considering a federal law banning convicted abusers from owning guns.

The 10-year anniversary of the last time the conservative justice asked a question came just this month. In the period, however, Thomas did make a comment from the bench, but it was not a question. He has said that he would prefer to end oral arguments at the Supreme Court.

His questions came in a case Monday called Voisine v. United States. According to the Supreme Court transcript of the hearing, he interjected after lana Eisenstein, an attorney representing the federal government, said “If there are no further questions.”

“One question,” he said.

Here is the transcript from the round of questions:










Update: This story has been updated with more context about Thomas’ questions.

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