From Lowering the Bar, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas did not ask a single question from the bench during the last term of the Supreme Court of the United States.  In fact, during 68 hours of oral argument, Justice Thomas did not utter a single word.  Not one.

In contrast, Justice Breyer has spoken almost 35,000 words since January.  Speculation is that their internal rules only permit so many words to be spoken during oral argument, so as not to use them all up and deprive the advocates of a choice assortment of good words, whether anglo or Latin derived, and Justice Breyer is a bit of a “word hog” on the bench. 

Supporters of Justice Thomas contend that he feels no compulsion to emit sound from his lips “just to hear his own voice.”  This, of course, is a worthy, even admirable, position.  On the other hand, there is an element of curiosity that one would look for in a Supreme Court justice.  While Justice Thomas has said (thus proving conclusively that he has the capacity to speak) that he will ask a question if someone else has not already asked it, there appears to be very few instances in which his curiosity is peaked.  In fact, he has uttered a total o 281 words since records (identifying the justice speaking) have been kept in 2004. 

All of this, of course, begs the really important question.  Who has so little to do in their life that they choose to keep track of this?  Personally, I really want to know how many times the phrase, “with all due respect,” has been used.