Justice Clarence Thomas was unusually chatty during the Supreme Court's historic livestream

(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Image)

published 4 May 2020

The Supreme Court's Monday arguments were out of the ordinary in more ways than one.

Monday marked the first time the court had broadcast oral arguments live in its history. Justices and the lawyers for the case U.S. Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com dialed in to a conference line to debate whether Booking.com could trademark its name, some with more success than others.

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Justice Stephen Breyer spoke right away when called on, but had a shoddy connection that made the first few seconds of his questioning unintelligible. But Justice Clarence Thomas had no trouble asking questions comparing Booking.com to a custom 1-800 nummber — a fact made especially unusual given that he's famous for rarely speaking during arguments. It's been at least a year since Thomas asked a question during arguments, and before that, it had been three years since his voice was heard. Kathryn Krawczyk

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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