(Reuters) - The silence is broken.

For the first time in nearly seven years, Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday spoke to a lawyer presenting a case during oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court.

While his utterance was not in the form of a question and consisted of a mere four words, it breaks a silence dating to February 22, 2006, during an argument over the admission of forensic evidence in a South Carolina death penalty case.

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