Question provoked audible response from audience and caused Chief Justice John Roberts to ‘swivel his head in evident surprise’ according to reporter

There were gasps at the US supreme court on Monday when Justice Clarence Thomas broke a 10-year silence, questioning an attorney for the first time since 22 February 2006.

The surprise inquiry from the conservative justice came in a case about Americans’ right to bear arms. The court was hearing oral arguments from a government attorney, who was defending a federal law that can bar domestic violence convicts from owning firearms.

Lawyer Ilana Eisenstein, an attorney for the US solicitor general’s office, was about to leave the lectern after answering a barrage of questions from other justices, when Thomas apparently caught her by surprise, asking whether the violation of any other law “suspends a constitutional right”.

Thomas’s question provoked an audible response from the audience, and caused Chief Justice John Roberts to “[swivel] his head in evident surprise”, according to one reporter present.

The justice asked several questions about constitutional gun rights, which no other justice had asked about. He said that the law being challenged allows someone convicted of a misdemeanor assault charge to receive a lifetime gun possession ban, “which at least as of now results in suspension of a constitutional right”.

Over the years, Thomas’s silence has been the subject of curiosity and criticism. Some commentators argued the justice neglected his duties by remaining mute. Thomas, however, had said he relied on legal briefs to answer questions.

“I think there are far too many questions,” he said in 2009. “Some members of the court like that interaction ... I prefer to listen and think it through more quietly.”

He added: “I think you should allow people to complete their answers and their thought and to continue their conversation. I find that coherence that you get from a conversation far more helpful than the rapid-fire questions. I don’t see how you can learn a whole lot when there are 50 questions in an hour.”

Oral questions from Thomas come just weeks after the death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia, whose ideologies closely matched Thomas’s own. Scalia sat directly to the right of Thomas. Scalia’s empty chair is currently draped in black, as Barack Obama works to nominate a new justice, a process that has so far been mired in controversy, with Republicans vowing to block any nomination until the next president takes office in January.



The Associated Press contributed to this report

