After 7
years of silence on the Supreme Court bench, Justice Clarence Thomas finally
spoke up during a court hearing on Monday.
The Supreme
Court was hearing arguments on Alleyne v. US, a case regarding whether judges should
have the right to increase prison sentences without approval from the jury,
when the conservative Justice Thomas cracked a joke about Yale Law School
graduates and their supposed impotence to Harvard lawyers.
The last
time Justice Thomas spoke during a court hearing was on February 22, 2006. Over
the years, he has provided various explanations for his silence during court hearings, such as
self-consciousness of his rural Georgian accent. He has also expressed
discontentment at the current Supreme Court’s tendency to ask a voluminous
amount of questions. Thomas has also said in a speech once that “"One thing I've demonstrated often in 16
years is you can do this job without asking a single question."
Although this
comment had little significance to the hearing of the case, much of the media
is abuzz about Thomas’ broken silence partly because three of the Supreme Court
justices (including himself) are Yale Law School graduates. Why do you think
Justice Thomas has been keeping his silence for so long? What is your opinion
on his quote above regarding the position of Supreme Court Justice?
(For those
of you in 7th period AP English—yes, this is the Clarence Thomas that
Mr. Thurtle was talking about during class today. Read about his scandal with
Anita Hill here)
2 comments:
Overall I respect Thomas's silence. It shows that he's been paying attention to the reading, being honest about not having a fully open mind, and generally being less wishy-washy than the questioning process can seem. However, on the other hand I doubt that he's had no questions about cases, which have undoubtedly included confusing or vague write-ups. It does seem smart to not ask questions that other judges ask, but it also seems a bit lazy to leave them up to other people. He's a Supreme Court justice after all, and should show at least a little more involvement.
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