Clarence Thomas finds an issue important enough to break his 10-year silence

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has become famous for never asking questions during oral arguments. Monday, he broke 10 years of silence with a question, and what a question it was:

"Can you give me an area [of law] where a misdemeanor violation suspends a constitutional right," Thomas asked of the federal government's lawyer, who was arguing that a federal ban on gun ownership for certain persons who are convicted of domestic violence offenses at the state level should apply if the offense was committed "recklessly." [...]

He wanted to know "how long" the suspension of Second Amendment rights was for persons prohibited under federal law to possess firearms, and he pressed Eisenstein to name any other legal analog where the federal government could permanently curtail constitutional rights following a conviction for an unrelated offense.

Guns for domestic abusers! This is the issue so close to Clarence Thomas’s heart that he breaks a 10-year silence. And it’s one of many issues where President Obama’s choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia could make a difference—if Senate Republicans don’t stand in the way.

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