Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, 75, rejoins oral arguments

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas returned to court for oral arguments on Tuesday after mysteriously absent from court on Monday. It comes as the Supreme Court hears arguments in the Jan. 6 case of Fischer v. United States.

On Monday, Chief Justice John Roberts said Thomas “will not be on the bench today” in court, but that he would “fully participate” in two cases being argued from the documents and transcripts.

The Supreme Court did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for additional information about his absence. The court has sometimes said in the past that a judge was ill, but not always. Thomas returned to court in time to hear arguments in a high-stakes case that could lead to some charges against individuals related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including the invalidation of Donald Trump.

The case involves a former Pennsylvania police officer, Joseph Fischer, who was charged with assaulting a police officer, disorderly conduct in the Capitol and obstructing a Congressional proceeding after entering the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Fischer has asked the nation’s highest court to dismiss the obstruction charge, arguing that the law he is accused of applied only to evidence tampering and not to events like Jan. 6.

He is accused of violating a provision of the Sarbane-Oxley Act passed in 2002 after the Enron scandal. Violators can receive a prison sentence of up to twenty years. It has been used to obtain guilty pleas from more than 150 people who participated on January 6.

Thomas not only returned to court Tuesday after his unexplained absence, but also asked the first question during oral arguments in the case. Some critics suggested Thomas should have recused himself from the Jan. 6 cases because of his wife Ginni Thomas’ behind-the-scenes role in the “Stop the Steal” effort. Ginni Thomas was at the rally on January 6, but did not enter the Capitol.

Judge Thomas, 75, is one of nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and has served on the nation’s highest court since 1991, making him currently the longest-serving justice on the court.

While his one-day absence on Monday remained unexplained, Thomas was hospitalized two years ago with an infection that also forced him to miss several court hearings. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority.

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