The final hearing in the U.S. Supreme Court’s March oral argument session was noticeably short—coming in at just under an hour—but they still made time to tackle an issue that attorneys argue could harm attorney-client privilege in the future.

“If you’re seeking records about the delinquent taxpayers records [from a law firm]… why can’t you also issue summons to clients of the law firm, partners, associates, who may have had some connection to this taxpayer?” asked Justice Clarence Thomas to Ephraim McDowell, the assistant to the solicitor general who defended the IRS in Wednesday’s oral arguments in Karcho Polselli v. IRS.