Thomas silent as Supreme Court talks on and on

[DS1]

Source: WASHINGTON (AP)

Two years and 142 cases have passed since Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas last spoke up at oral arguments. It is a period of unbroken silence that contrasts with the rest of the court's unceasing inquiries.

Hardly a case goes by without eight justices peppering lawyers with questions. Oral arguments offer justices the chance to resolve nagging doubts about a case, probe its weaknesses or make a point to their colleagues.

Left, right and center, the justices ask and they ask and they ask. Sometimes they debate each other, leaving the lawyer at the podium helpless to jump in. "I think you're handling these questions very well," Chief Justice John Roberts quipped to a lawyer recently in the midst of one such exchange.

Leaning back in his leather chair, often looking up at the ceiling, Thomas takes it all in, but he never joins in.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/25/thomas.silence.ap/index.html

[saltpoint]

1. Clarence is in a huff. He's mad at everybody. He's grumbly and

irritable.

Poor Clarence.

[DemzRock]

2. But during his confirmation hearings didn't he stress how important...

it was for Black people to have a voice.

And then he doesn't use his!

How ironic.

[thereismore]

3. I think of him as a person deeply hurt by the society. He repays s with his silence,

and votes.

[yellowcanine]

4. Thomas is still stewing about his confirmation hearings. Poster person for "passive aggressive".

Besides, he doesn't need to ask any questions. He just looks over at Scalia and says "me too, Tony."

[mth44sc]

5. He thinks he is just avoiding

making a public fool out of himself

[underpants]

6. He's an incompetent place holder who doesn't want to get exposed in public

His "decisions" are either directly from Scalia's office or he has a rightwing Federalist Society supllyside flow chart that he consults to tell him how to vote.

[0007]

7. A first class wank, Thomas is. What more need to be said?

[Hobarticus]

8. Why does a Scalia rubber-stamp need to speak, at all?

Could put up a cardboard cut-out, with a word balloon that says DITTO.

[kskiska]

9. He's said he can't speak standard English - speaks Geechee

(snip)

In the past, the Georgia-born Thomas has chalked up his silence to his struggle as a teenager to master standard English after having grown up speaking Geechee, a dialect that thrived among descendants of former slaves on the islands off the South Carolina, Georgia and Florida coasts.

[DS1]

10. Uh huh

I haven't heard that one before. Thanks!

[Hawaii Hiker]

11. That's because he's made up his mind, he votes on the conservative

side NO matter what the fucking case involves (abortion, censorship, etc.)

This is reason why all Democrats need to support whomever our nominee is, I sure as hell would feel alot better if the next SCOTUS appointment is made by either Clinton or Obama....Both Democrats would make better appointments to the high court than that broken down, bitter, mean-spirited pug John McCain...

[annabanana]

12. Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt ...n/t

[Doctor_J]

13. A lazy POS just like *. His only qualifications for the bench were his blacknes

and willingness to never do anything except rubber-stamp right wing absurdity.

[benld74]

14. Yeah but he gets to plan all the POTUS birthday, holiday and Xmas parties

[Javaman]

15. Thomas always struck me as a very little man...

Trying so hard to look important when at the heart of things he's a jealous, envious individual with no voice of his own. For it was co-oped when he gave his soul over to the GOP.

He asks nothing, gives his opinion on nothing and expects to be respected because of his position alone. This is the sign of a very sad and vengeful person.

I feel very sorry for him.

[BonnieJW]

16. I have a friend

who used to be a repub. I mean to the extent that she and her husband were invited to the inaugural ball when a repub was elected. She was at a party and Clarence was there. She said every time he opened his mouth it was embarrassing. He was so stupid!!!

My friend and her husband are voting for Barak.

[BearSquirrel2]

21. Well when you're talking pubic hair and Coke ..

I am convinced he doesn't talk because he has already made up his mind. It's then up to his clerks to rationalize his decision. But in the event he did open his mouth, chances are you would come up with a statement of the same eloquence as cubic hair on Coke cans.

[aquart]

17. He has much to be silent about.

[Winterblues]

18. His "masta's" tell him how to vote so why should he pay attention.

:shrug: big shocker there...Thomas doesn't voice opinions. He will give the opinion he is told to give and that be it..

[DS1]

20. I don't think that's it at all

[gratuitous]

19. Strange sentence at the end of the excerpt

"Thomas takes it all in." As Al Borland was wont to remake on the TV series "Home Improvement": Based on what?

[postulater]

22. Have they checked his pulse lately?

Maybe he lives at the Bates Motel.

[Sam Ervin jret]

23. They say if you're the least intelligent person in the room you should shut up and listen, Maybe he

always is the least intelligent person in the room.

But it takes humility to acknowledge you are the least among minds and somehow I don't see Thomas as humbled by his experiences. It seems more true that he is just angry, and looking for ways to get his points into law without leaving any verbal record to use against him.

Once burnt.

[olddad56]

24. It is because he is usually asleep.

I have a lawyer friend who had an agrument heard before the Supreme Court a few years ago. Thomas was asleep and Sandra Day O'Connor was so senile that she didn't know whcih side of the arugment he was representing.

[NikolaC]

25. I Have A Thought

If he is getting tired, more resentful and annoyed, why not just resign in Feb. 2009 and allow the next Dem prez to name his replacement :think: ? Just a fantasy of mine :evilgrin:.

[tanyev]

26. Too busy watching porn on his ipod?

[NoGOPZone]

27. Two years of silence, two decades of incompetence. nt

[Vickers]

28. "often looking up at the ceiling" OK seriously, if you did that at YOUR job...

...would you get fired?

Oh, and I grew up in the coastal region of Georgia, and I can speak just fine (OK, my accent is pretty fucked up, but hey).