Justice is observed: Clarence Thomas breaks silence
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas broke his decadelong silence Monday and asked several questions during an argument about whether people should lose their right to carry a gun because of a domestic violence conviction.
Thomas took the side of a Maine man who lost his right to own a gun after he pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge and paid a $200 fine. Thomas pressed a government lawyer to cite another example of where the law permanently “suspends” a citizen’s constitutional right based on a misdemeanor conviction.
He was referring to the Second Amendment right to have a gun. No one would lose their First Amendment to right to speak or publish a book because of a misdemeanor conviction, he said.
“Can you think of another constitutional right that can be suspended based upon a misdemeanor viola- tion of a state law?” Thomas asked, suggesting that the government might have a better case if the underlying crime had involved the use of a gun.
Federal law forbids felons from possessing a gun, and in 1996, Congress went further and outlawed gun possession for anyone who “has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.”
The high court unanimously upheld that provision three years ago as long as the defendant had used “physical force.”
The justices on Monday heard an appeal from a man who pleaded guilty in 2004 to having “knowingly or recklessly” caused or engaged in “offensive physical contact” with his girlfriend.
The man, Stephen Voisine, was arrested five years later for having shot a protected bald eagle. When federal investigators discovered his earlier conviction for domestic violence, they charged him with unlawful possession of a firearm.
The court agreed to hear his appeal to decide whether “reckless” conduct was enough to trigger the ban on gun possession.
Before Monday, the last time Thomas asked a question during oral arguments was in February 2006.
Some speculated that the recent death of Justice Antonin Scalia may have prodded Thomas to break his silence. A fellow conservative, Thomas joined Scalia in rulings that had upheld individual gun rights.