WASHINGTON — Justice Clarence Thomas yesterday spoke at a US Supreme Court argument — for the first time in almost seven years, evoking laughter with a wisecrack during a discussion of Ivy League law schools.
But neither the court’s official transcript nor an audio recording caught exactly what he said. He jumped into the conversation after Justice Antonin Scalia asked a Louisiana prosecutor about a defendant’s lawyer.
Prosecutor Carla Sigler confirmed that a member of the defense team had graduated from Yale Law School and a second from Harvard Law.
“Son of a gun,” replied Scalia, a Harvard alum — prompting Thomas, who until recently had a strained relationship with his alma mater, Yale, to quip that a Yale degree could signal incompetence, according to Scotusblog, which tracks the court (and is sponsored by Bloomberg Law).
The transcript then indicates laughter, followed by Sigler’s response: “I would refute that, Justice Thomas.”
Thomas hasn’t asked a question at argument since Feb. 22, 2006, when he interjected in a South Carolina death-penalty case. His courtroom comments since had been limited to opinion summaries.