Will Justice Thomas clam up again when the Supreme Court goes back to in-person arguments?

The Supreme Court’s first pandemic-era remote oral argument was on May 4, 2020, in a case about whether Booking.com was allowed to trademark its URL. And barring unforeseen circumstances, its final remote oral argument was exactly one year later on May 4, 2021, in a case about whether certain low-level crack cocaine offenders are eligible for leniency.

That’s because the court announced Wednesday that when its next term begins in October, the justices will hear oral arguments in person. The Supreme Court’s decision marks the latest vestige of the pandemic to fall away as vaccination rates increase and many parts of the country enjoy lifted mask mandates, crowded college football games and packed bars.

But there is one part of the pandemic that many may want to stick around: Justice Clarence Thomas asking questions during Supreme Court oral argument sessions.

Thomas was notoriously quiet on the bench before the coronavirus pandemic, often going several years without raising his voice during arguments. Before the May 4, 2020, Booking.com case, Thomas had last asked a question in March 2019. Before that, he asked one question in 2016, less than two weeks after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. And before that, Thomas hadn’t asked a question for an entire decade.

But when the court was forced to hear its cases via teleconference – and without the benefit of social and facial cues – it shifted to a much more organized format. Lawyers would get a set amount of time to deliver an opening argument before the justices questioned them for a couple of minutes each, in descending order of seniority.

When the court held its first argument of the pandemic in the Booking.com case, Thomas was the longest-serving justice. Therefore, he was set to ask questions second, after Chief Justice John Roberts.

“Could Booking acquire an 800 number that’s a vanity number, 1-800-booking for example, that is similar to 1-800-plumbing, which is a registered mark?” Thomas asked the U.S. government’s lawyer, Erica Ross. – READ MORE