Posted on 02/13/2011 12:23:13 PM PST by DemonDeac
"A week from Tuesday, when the Supreme Court returns from its midwinter break and hears arguments in two criminal cases, it will have been five years since Justice Clarence Thomas has spoken during a court argument."
"If he is true to form, Justice Thomas will spend the arguments as he always does: leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes, whispering to Justice Stephen G. Breyer, consulting papers and looking a little irritated and a little bored. He will ask no questions."
"In the past 40 years, no other justice has gone an entire term, much less five, without speaking at least once during arguments, according to Timothy R. Johnson, a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. "
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Affirmative action hire.
Hardly!
This is just a continuation of the “send him back to the Field” or “hang him” agenda of the Lefties.
The only good pick from George H.W. Bush. How could you call it an affirmative action pick. I don’t think that is true. I think he was the best man for the job at the time.
Just because Thomas refuses to participate in the side-show that has become the oral arguments, you think he's somehow not qualified to sit on the bench?
Thomas, even more than Scalia, is the most reliably conservative justice on the Court - maybe ever. It's absolutely freakin' ridiculous to describe him as an "affirmative action" hire.
It's a NY Slimes hit piece. I'm sorry you're not smart enough to see it.
Oral argument = theater. The justices have already made up their minds and prepared draft written opinions by the time of oral argument. Thomas obviously has little interest for such a charade.
Best justice on the court.
“Affirmative action hire”?
Justice Thomas has more class than 90% of the dopes in DC.
As to the comment, I’m going to risk getting banned from FR by suggesting that whoever made the crack about AA, whether the NY Times or you, can kiss my a**.
Do you really think that he would have got the job were he not black? Was he really one of the great legal minds? Of course not. The man votes well but he was nowhere near the most qualified person for the job and would not have got it were he not a negro.
Thurgood Marshall rarely asked questions from the bench during oral argument. IIRC correctly, he went something like ten years between questions.
Better to keep track of opinions written (incl dissents).
the guy is listening and thinking, so rare in DC they don’t know what to make of it.
Hey troll, Clarence Thomas may have been the only think GHWB did right.
Some of Thomas' opinions, especially in dissent, have been the best reasoned, and effective rebuttals of liberal judicial creep that have EVER been crafted.
His dissent in Kelo should be required reading for every Conservative who cares about the law.
And the insidious crime of affirmative action continues, where doubt is cast at the abilities and capabilities of a black man.
Nothing is more racist than such programs, as the dark question 'did this person get here because of their skin color' always hangs around. A liberal can never look at the accomplishments of a member of a minority without a smug smile of satisfaction that they're there solely because of affirmative action programs, not because of their abilities.
It changes no ones mind just gives the 2 sides a public platform. But on the other hand, I love it when Scalia or one of the others make a lawyer stumble and bumble to get the legaleeze done with and answer a question they don't want to answer..
Oh really? Thomas is an 'Affirmative action hire'. We'll see about that semi noob.
~~sniff, sniff~~
Target at 10:00 O'Clock guys. Fire at will.
Nonsense. The only way I would believe that is if an African American was the one who resigned before he got the position. If they were all about affirmative action on the court, we would have at least three African American men, two African American women, 3 Hispanics and one White guy. That is not near the makeup of the court.
DemonDeac got the zot, I think.
You do realize that this isn't Stormfront right?
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