Clarence Thomas breaks long silence during Supreme Court oral arguments

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

Justice Clarence Thomas broke his nearly seven-year silence at Supreme Court oral arguments Monday. But no one is sure exactly what he said.

Thomas seemed to be making a light-hearted joke about lawyers trained at his alma mater Yale Law School or its rival, Harvard. But several justices were speaking and laughing at the time, and the court reporter lost Thomas’s comments during the cross talk.

His comments came during questions about the qualifications of lawyers who had represented a Louisiana man in a murder case. Justice Antonin Scalia noted that one of the lawyers had attended Harvard and another had gone to Yale.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clarence-thomas-breaks-long-silence-during-supreme-court-oral-arguments/2013/01/14/a7c6023c-5e7a-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html

---

I always say nothing helps break the tension of a capital murder case like some well-timed humor...

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Are they sure it wasn't a*grunt* mistaken for a word?

It isn't like CokeCanClarence to utter anything intelligible.

[rocktivity]

2. Candidate for this year's "You Call This NEWS?" Awards

Special Achievement Category!


rocktivity

[niyad]

4. well, since that scum has not uttered a word during oral arguments in seven years, it might be

considered news.

[Buzz Clik]

3. Jay and Silent Bob. "No ticket!"

[img]]/img]

[Wolf Frankula]

5. Maybe he was just being prudent

After all, 'It is better to be silent and to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.'

Wolf

[Plucketeer]

11. That was my first thought

I'll bet he's the life of party at cocktail happenings!

[bluestateguy]

6. Like the two Darryls talking on Newhart

What a lightweight.

[blueclown]

7. And yet, he still had nothing to say..

Sums up Mr. Thomas' legal philosophy quite succinctly..

[DreamGypsy]

8. "a proposition capable of refutation"

From the New York Times report:

Justice Thomas leaned into his microphone, and in the midst of a great deal of cross talk among the justices, cracked a joke. Or so it seemed to people in the courtroom.

The official transcript confirms that Justice Thomas spoke, for the first time since Feb 22, 2006. It attributes these words to him, after a follow-up comment from Justice Scalia concerning a male graduate of Harvard Law School: “Well – he did not —.” That is all the transcript recites.

Though the transcription is incomplete, people in the courtroom understood him to say that a law degree from Yale may actually be proof of incompetence.

<snip>

And the lawyer at the lectern, a Louisiana prosecutor named Carla S. Sigler, responded, “I would refute that, Justice Thomas,” indicating that the justice had articulated a proposition capable of refutation. Ms. Sigler had said earlier that the Yale lawyer was “a very impressive attorney.”

[Paladin]

9. Thomas Was Asking Scalia For Permission To Take A Leak. (nt)

[Scuba]

12. +1,000

[bemildred]

10. Anita Hill: 'It was worth it'

In the documentary "Anita," which premieres at the Sundance Film Festival in four sold-out screenings beginning Saturday, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Mock focuses her lens on law professor Anita Hill (who hadn't yet seen the film at press time). More than 20 years after Hill accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in turbulent Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Hill is an author, professor of social policy, law and women's studies at Brandeis University's Heller School of Social Policy and Management and a frequent speaker on sexual discrimination and civil rights.

Was it worth it — "it" being the hard times you went through because of the hearings and the aftermath? Looking at it from 2013, was it worth what you went through to be where you are today?

In 1991, when I was called to testify — I was actually subpoenaed — I set myself a goal to truthfully talk about the experience I had with Clarence Thomas because I thought, and I still think, that it reflected on his ability to be an impartial judge in any case involving the law, but certainly any case involving civil rights, inequality issues. Having done that, yes, it was worth it. I have no regrets.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-anita-hill-conversation-20130113,0,191725.story

[CE5]

13. What a real brain trust, that Clarence Thomas

[longship]

14. Nah!! They couldn't hear what he said because it was a snore.

[NICO9000]

15. 20+ years and counting of this RW shill

So disgraceful that Thurgood Marshall's position was filled by this idiot.

[AlbertCat]

16. What'd he do?

Ask to go to the bathroom?

[Festivito]

17. He finally opens his mouth, and, proves he's stupid.

What a graceless buffoon.

[NoGOPZone]

18. He finally woke up, huh? nt

[question everything]

19. Was catching up on "Scandal" program

and the one before the break had a flashback of an African American Justice administers the oath of office to the newly elected president. And I was thinking - can't be Thomas. No one even knows how he sounds. I did not know it was seven years. I though it was 20 years, since he was confirmed.

[Eagle_Eye]

20. Slappy found his voice

He finished a sentence he started seven years ago, only nobody could remember the subject.

[undeterred]

21. He belched and farted... and then he woke up.

It was the most intelligent thing he's done in years.

[blkmusclmachine]

22. I read that Joe Biden had something to do with getting Thomas this gig.

?

[ThoughtCriminal]

23. Dilbert joke?

Engineer: So Sven,... you went to Yale?

Project Manager: I yust got out!

[LuckyLib]

24. Let's think about this: the highest court in the land, in the midst of daily arguments

and questions, refuses to speak or engage any participating attorneys or his colleagues. WTF? You mean we have to pass a law to be sure that if you are a sitting justice and you refuse to speak we can oust you? It's an insult to his peers, the legal professional, and the entire nation. Not that he would have anything much to say of import anyway, but it might give us some indication of brain functioning -- or not.

[Kablooie]

25. "Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?"

[MADem]

26. He should probably go back to taking Twain's advice....

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

[Fire Walk With Me]

27. If only he'd be silent on Mosanto cases, having worked for them in the past.