Honestly, if I’m ever given the chance to skip oral argument, I probably will. Why work yourself up into a frenzy to try and distill a complicated issue down to 30 minutes of argument? Appellate judges probably will have decided the case before the argument anyway.
In response to Olson's questions about the value of oral arguments, Thomas said that sometimes they made a difference but rarely did they change votes, and never did they make a difference on a sustained basis.
Source: Law.com - Justice Thomas Speaks About His Silence on the Bench