Justice Thomas asks question during arguments for first time in decade

For the first time in a decade, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke during oral arguments.

Just last week, CNN wrote about the ten-year anniversary of Thomas’s last question at oral arguments. That anniversary, February 22, came on the same day the Supreme Court first heard oral arguments after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, who was Thomas’s ideological soul mate and who had defended his lack of questions over the years.

According to reporters in the courtroom Monday, Thomas asked a government attorney, Ilana H. Eisenstein, several questions during a case concerning gun ownership and domestic violence.

The question in the case that piqued Thomas’s interest Monday, Voisine v. United States: Is a prior domestic assault conviction based upon reckless conduct a “misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence” for purposes of the federal firearms ban? The court is expected to release transcripts of the exchange Monday afternoon.

Over the years Thomas has offered a variety of reasons for his silence from the bench.

“We have a lifetime to go back in chambers and to argue with each other,” Thomas said in 2013 according to the Associated Press. He noted that the lawyers only have about 30 minutes to present their side of the case. “They should argue. That’s a part of the process.” Thomas said and added that he doesn’t like to “badger people.”