Clarence Thomas has learned how to disguise the fact he shouldn't be on the Supreme Court

He doesn't talk during oral arguments. Not at all.

WASHINGTON - Mum's the word for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Very, very mum.

Taking reticence to new heights, Thomas zips his lip during the robust intellectual combat known as the oral argument. While his eight colleagues joke, thrust, parry and probe, Thomas leans back in silence. And that's how he stays.

Since October 2004, when the Supreme Court began identifying individual justices on oral argument transcripts, the court has conducted some 218 hours' worth of arguments. Thomas has uttered a grand total of 281 words, a transcript review shows.

(graphic taken from article.)