Religious makeup of the Supreme Court

[cnorman18]

I heard this on the radio a couple of days ago; if Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed to the Supreme Court, six of the nine Justices will be Roman Catholics.

I don't see this as a problem - I couldn't tell you who the five Catholics are on the Court now - but it does seem odd that no one has even mentioned it (for the record, the guy on the radio didn't see it as a problem either; like me, he was just puzzled that it hasn't been a news story).

Any comments?

[McCulloch]

Stats from adherents.com:

[row]John Roberts (Chief Justice)[col]Catholic[row]Stephen G. Breyer [col]Jewish[row]Ruth Bader Ginsburg [col]Jewish[row]Anthony M. Kennedy [col]Catholic[row]Antonin Scalia [col]Catholic[row]David H. Souter (retiring)[col]Episcopalian[row]Sonia Sotomayor (nominated)[col]Catholic [row]John Paul Stevens [col]Protestant[row]Clarence Thomas [col]Catholic[row]Samuel Alito [col]Catholic

[mrow]Affiliation [mcol]Percent of Supreme Court now [mcol]percent of Supreme Court proposed[mcol]percent of US population (est)[row]Catholic [col] 55.6%[col] 66.7%[col] 24.5%[row] Jewish[col] 22.2%[col] 22.2%[col] 1.5%[row]Episcopalian[col] 11.1%[col] 0%[col] 1.7%[row]Protestant [col] 11.1%[col] 11.1%[col] 53.0% [row]Non-religious [col] 0.0%[col] 0.0%[col] 16.0%

It sure is a good thing that the supreme court does not need to be in any way representative. It is a judicial not a legislative or executive body.

[micatala]

Stats from adherents.com:

[row]John Roberts (Chief Justice)[col]Catholic[row]Stephen G. Breyer [col]Jewish[row]Ruth Bader Ginsburg [col]Jewish[row]Anthony M. Kennedy [col]Catholic[row]Antonin Scalia [col]Catholic[row]David H. Souter (retiring)[col]Episcopalian[row]Sonia Sotomayor (nominated)[col]Catholic [row]John Paul Stevens [col]Protestant[row]Clarence Thomas [col]Catholic[row]Samuel Alito [col]Catholic

[mrow]Affiliation [mcol]Percent of Supreme Court now [mcol]percent of Supreme Court proposed[mcol]percent of US population (est)[row]Catholic [col] 55.6%[col] 66.7%[col] 24.5%[row] Jewish[col] 22.2%[col] 22.2%[col] 1.5%[row]Episcopalian[col] 11.1%[col] 0%[col] 1.7%[row]Protestant [col] 11.1%[col] 11.1%[col] 53.0% [row]Non-religious [col] 0.0%[col] 0.0%[col] 16.0%

It sure is a good thing that the supreme court does not need to be in any way representative. It is a judicial not a legislative or executive body.

I certainly don't see it as a problem.

A couple of other comparisons that might be interesting would be religious affiliation of congresspeople, the affiliations of people serving in any federal court as judges, or even the affiliations of law graduates. These might all be significantly different than the religious demographics of the population at large.

[palmera]

Not to sound too crass, but heck, who better to comment on legal matters than Jews and Catholics?! It's like having Batman and Superman on a Hero Committee.

[McCulloch]

Not to sound too crass, but heck, who better to comment on legal matters than Jews and Catholics?! It's like having Batman and Superman on a Hero Committee.

Is there an award for using stereotypes?

[JoeyKnothead]

I just hope I'm alive to see the meltdown of society when an avowed atheist is nominated.

I got a feeling that'n there could cause a war.

[kayky]

Since when are Episcopalians not Protestants???

[McCulloch]

Since when are Episcopalians not Protestants???

Within Anglicanism, and in particular in the Church of England, three terms are frequently used to denote different varieties of belief and practice: High Church, Low Church and Broad Church (or Latitudinarian). High Church is generally used to describe a form of Anglicanism which is influenced to a greater or lesser extent by the Catholic tradition. Anglo-Catholicism is sometimes identified with this variety of churchmanship, but "High Church" believers would not necessarily endorse all the elements of Anglo-Catholicism. This puts the part of the Anglican tradition, along with the Orthodox Churches and the Old Catholic Churches as being neither Roman Catholic nor Protestant, yet Christian.

Of course, the Low Church and the Latitudinarians are firmly in the Protestant camp. This leaves Anglicanism in its own way, with a foot in both sides of the fence.

[cnorman18]

Responding to several posts at one, with an additional observation:

Jews and Catholics probably are more accustomed to thinking in terms of law, since in the one case they are compelled to consider halachah (Jewish law) and in the other, Canon Law. Protestant sects are less oriented toward formal lists of rules. More on that in a moment.

I suspect that we have already had an atheist or two in the White House. I decline to speculate on who; but politicians who advance to that level are fairly clever, by and large, and and I doubt if any who ever do are likely to be too dumb to fake it for political purposes.

It is common to casually classify all Christian denominations that are not either Catholic or Orthodox as "Protestant," even though that is not strictly true. Besides Episcopalians, Pentecostals are not properly classed as Protestants, either; that is a separate branch. Neither are Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, or Christian Scientists, for other reasons, not to mention other small groups and sects.

The one failure to match the demographics of the American people on the part of Government officials that I find most troubling - though not in the case of the judicial branch - is that they are virtually all attorneys. The Founders seem to have conceived of the Congress, at least, as a body consisting of citizen representatives, not of professional politicians who would spend their entire lives in public service.

I have heard of no ill effects or repercussions in the legal community resulting from the current economic crisis. The lawyers seem to be doing rather well. That doesn't strike me as an accident.

[East of Eden]

Since when are Episcopalians not Protestants???

Within Anglicanism, and in particular in the Church of England, three terms are frequently used to denote different varieties of belief and practice: High Church, Low Church and Broad Church (or Latitudinarian). High Church is generally used to describe a form of Anglicanism which is influenced to a greater or lesser extent by the Catholic tradition. Anglo-Catholicism is sometimes identified with this variety of churchmanship, but "High Church" believers would not necessarily endorse all the elements of Anglo-Catholicism. This puts the part of the Anglican tradition, along with the Orthodox Churches and the Old Catholic Churches as being neither Roman Catholic nor Protestant, yet Christian.

Of course, the Low Church and the Latitudinarians are firmly in the Protestant camp. This leaves Anglicanism in its own way, with a foot in both sides of the fence.

As the Anglican Church came out of the Reformation movement and does not recognize the authority of the Pope, you'd have to call them Protestant, wouldn't you?

From Wikipedia: "The Act of Settlement is an act of the Parliament of England, originally filed in 1700, and passed in 1701, to settle the succession to the English throne on the Electress Sophia of Hanover — a granddaughter of James I — and her Protestant heirs."