Justice Thomas today asked his first question of counsel at an oral argument in just over one decade. Thomas is well known for his view that oral argument is a time for counsel to present her arguments, not a time for the justices to interrupt to express their own positions on the case. The argument was in the Voisine v. United States case.
Early speculation is that Justice Thomas's question was motivated by Justice Scalia's absence on the Court and a desire to voice opinions that Scalia might previously have voiced for both men (Scalia was a frequent questioner and is often cited as sparking the Court's current practice of asking a torrent of questions during argument). If that's the case, we can expect that Thomas's questioning today won't be an isolated event.
Once the transcript of the oral argument is released, I'll link to it here.
UPDATE: Here is the link to the Voisine oral argument. Justice Thomas's questioning begins on page 35 and runs through page 39. Five whole pages of questioning!
