Supreme Court JusticeĀ Clarence Thomas, 75, sparked raised eyebrows over his whereabouts when he was absent during oral arguments on Monday, and the Court provided no explanation.
Chief JusticeĀ John RobertsĀ addressed Thomasā lack of presence, according toĀ NBCĀ Newsā Lawrence Hurley, saying that Thomas āis not on the bench todayā but would āparticipate fullyā in the two cases being argued based on the briefs and transcripts.
āContext that may or may not be helpful: In the recent past, Justice Thomas phoned into oral arguments when he couldnāt attend in person, allowing him to ask questions remotely. He isnāt doing so this time,āĀ wroteĀ Slate reporter Mark Joseph Stern on X, formerlyĀ Twitter.
Nah, democrats have a majority in the senate and republicans removed the ability to filibuster Supreme Court confirmations in order to seat Gorsuch. The 60 vote requirement was still in place in 2016 when democrats tried to fill scaliaās seat, and enough democrats were unwilling to change the rules to remove that requirement. Now that itās gone there shouldnāt be any issue confirming a new justice.
Expecting Democrats to not tie their own hands here isā¦ optimistic.