Justice Clarence Thomas Asks Question for 2nd Time in a Decade at Supreme Court

Justice Clarence Thomas, who’s known for his silence, surprised many after asking a question during an oral argument Wednesday regarding racial discrimination. It was only his second question in an entire decade.

Via the Hill:

On Wednesday, Thomas waited until the very end of the hour-long arguments to ask if the defense for defendant Curtis Flowers, who is black, had struck any jurors from the sixth trial and, if so, what their races were.

Flowers’s attorney, Sheri Lynn Johnson, had just spent half the hour arguing that the prosecutor had relentlessly worked to keep black jurors from sitting on her client’s trials and had just told the court she planned to waive a final rebuttal when Thomas spoke up.

She seemed surprised that the question had come from Thomas, but told him the defense had, in fact, also struck jurors and that they were white.

“But I would add that the motive, her motivation is not the question here. The question is the motivation of Doug Evans,” she said, referring to the prosecutor.

For the record, both sides are allowed to strike down a certain number of jurors for whatever reason. However, that reason cannot be race-based. They’re claiming that Evans showed a pattern of racial discrimination in this regard.

Flowers argued that Evans struck every black panelist that he could during the first four trials, 36 in all. The fifth trial ended in a mistrial and there is no information in the record on the race of the jurors who were struck.

In the sixth trial, Evans took the first qualified black juror and struck the other five.

So here’s what the Court is looking at:

The Supreme Court is being asked to decide if a prosecutor’s history of racial discrimination in jury selection must be considered when a court is assessing new claims of discrimination.

That’s the case that moved Thomas to ask a question. Interesting, no? Keep in mind, his last question occurred over three years ago, back in February 2016. It’s just an interesting tidbit to keep in your back pocket!

h/t The Hill