In Boyer v. Louisiana [transcript, PDF], the court considered a Sixth Amendment [text] case directly on appeal from the Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit [opinion]. At issue is if the state violates the "speedy trial clause" by not paying court-appointed counsel in a timely manner. Counsel for the petitioner argued that the Louisiana court incorrectly determined that the cause of the delay was beyond the control of the state. Counsel for Louisiana argued that while the delay may have been within the state's control, the court should nonetheless uphold the lower court's reasoning. Much media attention was given to the fact that Justice Clarence Thomas, known for remaining silent during oral arguments, broke his seven-year silence during this argument with the words "Well—he did not." It is unclear exactly what he meant, but he spoke in response to questioning from Justice Antonin Scalia about the lawyer in the case being Harvard educated.