The Supreme Court Has a Prince Super Fan and It’s Clarence Thomas

(Bloomberg) -- There’s something you probably don’t know about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas -- he was a fan of the musician Prince.

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Thomas made the revelation in the midst of arguments Wednesday over a photographer’s claim that her copyrighted portrait of Prince was infringed by the pop artist Andy Warhol.

“Let’s say that I’m both a Prince fan, which I was in the ’80s,” Thomas said while questioning an attorney for the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

“No longer?” Justice Elena Kagan interrupted.

As the courtroom broke into laughter, Thomas smiled and responded, “Only on Thursday nights.”

The exchange came as Thomas was posing a hypothetical question to the foundation’s lawyer about whether the use of one of Warhol’s works with a Syracuse University basketball team slogan would violate copyright. It provided one of several light moments for the justices Wednesday as the copyright discussion touched on such cultural topics as sitcoms and rap music.

The court has more often been dealing with divisive issues during arguments in the past year on such issues as abortion, gun control and voting rights.

Read More: Warhol-Prince Supreme Court Case Evokes Laughs, Copyright Debate

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