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The teacher stepped toward the class and asked the question directly:

"How did the court find that diversity is a compelling state interest?"

Silence.

He asked again.

Silence.

"Oh, God," he said. "Everybody's diving for the bottom of their desk."

The tentative Kansas University law students had reason to be intimidated Wednesday: The teacher in their constitutional law class was Clarence Thomas, one of nine U.S. Supreme Court justices trusted to interpret the law of the land.

The students might have been quiet during the start of the hourlong class -- one of four the justice taught Wednesday during the first day of a visit to KU -- but Thomas' candid discussion about daily life at the Supreme Court and occasional sports references seemed to put them at ease by the end of the session. He even joked that he struggled to find a job out of law school in the mid-1970s.

"And that's how I wound up in Missouri," he said, working as assistant attorney general. The comment about the rival state drew chuckles from the class.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas responds to questions from students Wednesday during a visit to a class at Kansas University's School of Law.

"He was very easy-going and easy to talk to," said student Holly Hydeman. "We make them (justices) out to be demagogues. He's a guy who drives a Saturn."

This is Thomas' fourth trip in eight years to the KU School of Law, where one of his former clerks, Steve McAllister, serves as dean. His visit, which concludes today, includes attending classes and receptions with students, faculty, alumni and donors. But no public events.

Tuesday night Thomas, 56, had dinner at Free State Brewing Co. in downtown Lawrence. Beer drinkers on the porch were abuzz about his presence by the time a big, black SUV, apparently driven by the justice's bodyguards, parked briefly in front of the restaurant to pick him up. Sources at the restaurant said Thomas ate steak. Others at his table included McAllister and retired Kansas Supreme Court Justice Fred Six.

Thomas is known for taking a narrow, literal view of the Constitution and doesn't think the court should expand its influence.

"I look at it as a job," he told students. "When you think you're all that important, you run the risk of thinking you can raise the level at which you impact the country. I am a Title 3 (federal district court) judge, and I will not try to be God."

Thomas used the recent cases involving affirmative action at the University of Michigan to illustrate the need for students to separate their opinions from their ability to think critically about the law. The end result of the ruling -- having more minorities in the Michigan law school -- may have seemed beneficial, but that didn't mean the policy was constitutional, he said.

"We're getting real comfortable with that in society," Thomas said. "We agree with the outcome and spend all this time coming up with reasoning for it."

Richard Levy, who normally teaches the constitutional law class, said the class was a rare opportunity for students to learn from a justice when they spend the rest of the semester reading about them and their rulings.

"I've been impressed with how personable he is," Levy said. "He is willing to talk with students or anyone about anything. That's what makes him such a useful and helpful person to have in class."