The oldest-serving justice on the current Court has had health issues in the past but participated in arguments.

Supreme Court Justice 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 Justice John Roberts addressed Thomas’ lack of presence, according to NBC News’ Lawrence Hurley, saying that Thomas “is not on the bench today” but would “participate fully” in the two cases being argued based on the briefs and transcripts.

“Context that may or may not be helpful: In the recent past, Justice Thomas phoned into oral arguments when he couldn’t attend in person, allowing him to ask questions remotely. He isn’t doing so this time,” wrote Slate reporter Mark Joseph Stern on X, formerly Twitter.

  • partial_accumen
    24•8 months ago

    When reached for comment Chief Justice Roberts relayed the events that occurred that morning leading to Justice Thomas’s unplanned absence. “I called him up and said, dude, you’re on the schedule to work this morning. Where the hell are you? And he said ‘bro, I’m like totally hung over. I was partying with these insurrectionists last night at a rooftop rave rolling my balls off. Babe, can you hand me that water bottle? No, that wasn’t talking you Bob. Can you, like, call Ruth to cover?’ And I’m like ‘Hey asshole, I’m tired of covering your damn shifts. Ruth doesn’t work here anymore, and you know that. Get your ass in here or I’m marking you as ‘unexcused absence’. And he’s like ‘no can do, bro. I’m Audi 5000 today, see ya!’ and then he totally hung up! I swear, I don’t even think he wants this job anymore. I wish he’d fuckin’ quit already.”

    Wow, I never knew such drama exists so high in our third brand government. Is this what the framers intended?