Thursday brought one of my favorite Congressional hearings, as two Justices from the U.S. Supreme Court went before a House Appropriations Subcommittee to ask for money to fund the Court's budget for Fiscal Year 2011.

It's always sort of an odd scene, because here is a co-equal branch of government asking for money to fund its operations, a request from a group of jurists who usually aren't seen speaking away from the bench too often.

Even more odd about this annual hearing it is that the main voice for these presentations is Justice Clarence Thomas, who rarely utters a single word during arguments across the street before the Supreme Court.

And yet, there he is, going through mundane numbers about how many extra police officers the Supreme Court wants to hire (24, but only 12 are being requested), how much salaries will increase in the next fiscal year (1.4%) and how well long term renovations are going (it should be finished this Summer).

Thomas told lawmakers that overall, the Supreme Court is asking for a 5% budget increase, much of which deals with security improvements and the new police request.

While Justice Thomas usually says nothing during Court arguments, he is a genial kind of fellow during these Congressional appearances, often letting loose a deep, deep homespun laugh and resulting big smile.

Once lawmakers go over all the budget numbers in this tiny committee room that is stuffed away on the third floor of the House side of the Capitol, then it's time to actually see about making some news.

One subject that always comes up is when will the Supreme Court finally allow cameras for televised arguments.  Both Thomas, and fellow Justice Stephen Breyer tried their best to brush off the idea without being openly dismissive.

Panel Chairman Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) said he favors openness, but worries that people would use taped Supreme Court arguments to boil things down to quick sound bites, with comments on TV like, "Did you hear Breyer?" or "Did you hear Thomas?  Oh my God," said Serrano.

To great laughter, Thomas quickly interjected, "You mean, you didn't hear me."

In the end, it was Breyer who made news in the hearing, as the subject again came up of the Supreme Court's light docket of recent years.  Breyer laid some of that at the feet of Congress, that little major legislation has been approved.

But then he said things might change because of the new health care law.

"I would predict...that three or four years from today, no one is ever going to ask us why we have so few cases," Breyer said to general laughter in the committee room.

Obviously health care isn't a laughing matter in the political arena, but everyone understood what Breyer was saying.

Just one of the reasons this little get together is one of my favorite hearings to cover each year.