Justice Clarence Thomas asks a question in court for first time since 2016

By Zach Halaschak

Published March 21, 2019 4:21am ET

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Justice Clarence Thomas asks a question in court for first time since 2016 — The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court gather for an official group portrait to include new Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, top row, far right, Thursday. June 1, 2017, at the Supreme Court Building in Washington. Seated, from left are, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, and Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. Standing, from left are, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch. | (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Notoriously silent Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas surprised those in court Wednesday by speaking up during arguments and asking just his second question in a decade.

Thomas, who has been on the court since 1991, broke his silence to ask a question in the case of a Mississippi man accused of killing four people. The man, Curtis Flowers, has been tried six times prior for the alleged 1996 crime.

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Clarence Thomas Mississippi Supreme Court