Given the Supreme Court's nominal 6-3 conservative-leaning majority, the natural presumption would be that one of the court's three liberal justices would be the one to most often dissent from the majority's decisions.

That presumption would be wrong, however, as the numbers show that it is conservative Justice Clarence Thomas who is most often at odds with the rest of his colleagues on the bench, according to Newsweek.

The surprising revelation comes as a result of a breakdown of how each justice has voted thus far in the current term on case decisions and court orders.

Thomas most often in dissent from the majority

Newsweek reported that the Supreme Court has issued decisions in 17 cases so far in the current term that began in October and ends in June or July.

Of those 17 decisions, Justice Thomas has dissented against four of them, the most of all of the jurists on the bench, with Justice Neil Gorsuch right on his heels with three full dissents and one partial dissent from the majority.

For the liberal members of the court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has three full dissents, Justice Sonia Sotomayor has two dissents, and Justice Elena Kagen has just one dissent.

Rounding out the list is Justice Amy Coney Barrett with one full and two partial dissents, followed by Justice Samuel Alito with one full and one partial dissent. Notably, neither Chief Justice John Roberts nor Justice Brett Kavanaugh have found themselves dissenting from a majority of their colleagues just yet.

Newsweek further reported that Justice Thomas has also parted ways with the majority on at least 15 orders from the high court so far this term.

Thomas has "never been shy" about expressing his views of the Constitution

The many dissents of Justice Thomas are no surprise to Stephen Wermiel, a constitutional law professor at American University Washington College of Law, who told Newsweek that Thomas "has long written more dissenting and concurring opinions than just about anyone else on the Court," and noted, "Last term, he was tied for the most of both dissenting and concurring opinions. He has his own views of the Constitution and federal laws, and he has never been shy about putting them out there whenever the spirit moves him."

"He dissents for different reasons," the professor added. "Often they are cases the Court is refusing to consider. Sometimes he'll see an issue on which the Court is going to pass, but he thinks it is important and should be settled now (Speech First v. Whitten). Sometimes he thinks the lower courts are getting it wrong and confused (Hittle v. City of Stockton) and should be corrected."

One recent example of exactly that came last month, according to Fox News, when Thomas spoke out against a decision by the court to reject taking up a challenge to an Illinois law that sharply restricts the ostensibly First Amendment-protected activities of pro-life protestors in the vicinity of abortion clinics.

Citing a prior court precedent establishing "buffer zones" to protect clinic patients and employees from harassment that Thomas believes has been misinterpreted and "seriously undermined, if not completely eroded" by Democrat-led states like Illinois, Thomas chided his colleagues and wrote, "Our refusal to provide clarity is an abdication of our judicial duty."

Rumors of a possible impending retirement

Justice Thomas, 76, was first nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1991, making him the oldest and longest-serving current member of the Supreme Court, and in light of President Trump's re-election last year, there have been persistent rumors circulating that Thomas may soon announce his retirement, content that he will be replaced by Trump with a like-minded but much younger new justice.

However, per Reuters, there is no apparent evidence that Thomas has formally announced or even casually discussed with others the possible timing of his eventual retirement from the court that he has now served on for more than three decades.