OAN’s Brooke Mallory
3:01 PM – Monday, April 15, 2024
Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court did not show up for Monday’s oral arguments and did not give a reason.
He joined the Supreme Court back in 1991.
Thomas, 75, would “not participate,” Chief Justice John Roberts declared immediately after the court convened for arguments on Monday morning.
The first case on Monday had involved whether a payment made by a city contractor to the former mayor of Portage, Indiana, had violated a federal anti-corruption statute. In the second case, an Ohio jewelry store manager sued the police, claiming they lacked probable cause to detain him on suspicion of money laundering.
In the past, the court has frequently given an explanation, mentioning things like a justice’s illness, for example. Those justices participate in remote arguments from time to time if they cannot be there in person.
As the oldest senior associate justice on the Supreme Court, he also missed multiple debates in 2022 following an infection diagnosis.
However, the 75-year-old’s most recent absence seems to be prompting worries in a number of notable commentators and journalists on X (Twitter).
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