Posted on 02/17/2011 6:42:24 AM PST by SeekAndFind
It will be five years next week since Justice Clarence Thomas spoke during oral argument at the Supreme Court. Before falling into this long silence, he posed a question on Feb. 22, 2006. In the past 40 years, no other justice has gone an entire term without speaking at least once during arguments, according to Timothy R. Johnson, a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota.
Can a justice effectively perform his duties without participating in oral argument? Does questioning the lawyers in court make much difference, or is it mostly a ritual, with the justices' thinking pretty much set beforehand?
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Can a Supreme Court justice effectively perform his duties without participating in oral arguments?
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Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt......Abe Lincoln..........
He never really has much, though, has he?
Unlike Ginsburg at least Thomas stays awake during oral argument.
He’s the best justice on the bench, by far. Scalia is a good talker, but when his own pet views are involved, he folds (see Raich or Playboy for examples. Hell, see any case where Scalia and Thomas were on opposite ends, and you’ll find yourself agreeing with Thomas.)
There’s nothing wrong with listening. Silent Cal was a damn fine president and a man of very few words.
That tagline says all I need to know about the article...no need to waste time reading such drivel!
Also attributed to Mark Twain and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
It might be a worthwhile discussion if it was in a paper with a wider readership, like the Tri-State Defender or any law journal.
I’ve read some of his opinions, and they’re good enough for me. It seems to me, too, that everything that needs to be presented to an appellate-type court can, and should be, presented in writing, and in such a way that nothing should require verbal clarification.
Listening is how you learn, not by blabbing
Playboy case? I don’t remember that one - what happened and how did Scalia/Thomas rule?
They prolly saw it on each other’s Facebook page............
Part of a coordinated attack on Justice Thomas (see the controversy about his wife’s income and the petition re Citizen’s United) to disqualify him from participating in the upcoming ObamaCare case.
...and it’s racist.
An empty barrel makes the most noise.
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