Religious Affiliation of Supreme Court Justices

[Bucky]

from http://www.adherents.com/adh_sc.html

Rehnquist (Lutheran)
Stevens (Protestant)
O'Connor (Episcopalian)
Scalia (Catholic)
Kennedy (Catholic)
Souter (Episcopalian)
Thomas (Catholic)
Ginsburg (Jewish)
Breyer (Jewish)

and now

Roberts (Catholic)

With the exception of Souter, who was more or less forced down Poppy's throat in the wake of the Bork/Ginsberg embarassments, it looks like Republicans are only appointing Catholics since 1983. Coincidence?

Sure, if you spell it "L-I-T-M-U-S - T-E-S-T."

[SteppingRazor]

1. Yes, but...

How is this significant, particularly given that all the appointers were protestant?

[fairfaxvadem]

2. Last I heard about Thomas...

He attended/attends an Episcopalian church in Fairfax. Don't know if he still lives around the corner from me in Clifton, VA. But if he had attended the 2 far-right RC churches in my neck of the woods, I'd know about it.

[Modem Butterfly]

3. The true litmus test is that they're all theists

Not an atheist among them.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. Thomas was an Episcopalian when appointed.

He had begun life as a Baptist, and at some point after he started attending a Catholic school, his family all became Catholic. At one time, he was considering being a priest. Later, I think after being divorced, he switched to the Episcopal Church.

So, when appointed and for some time after, he was Episcopalian. It's said that Scalia convinced him to return to Catholicism.

Kennedy, it should be noted, is also Catholic but seems to have little in common with Scalia and Thomas. It's possible Roberts will be more like Kennedy than like the other two.

In any case, I think Republicans have appointed as many Episcopalians as Catholics.
No one knew Thomas might go back to the Catholic Church.


Edit: Has Thomas said he is now (again) Catholic? I had heard he was attending both Episcopal and Catholic churches, apparently a Catholic church near the Supreme Court building on weekdays, and an Episcopal church with his wife on weekends.

[Bucky]

7. Yes. Last I thing that read, he was "returning to the Catholic faith"

It's a recent development. Damn, now I gotta look up the source.

But even when he was Episcopal, he was the justice most openly aligned with Aquinistic "natural law" philosphy.

[Hardrada]

5. They need some Unitarians.

Or Buddhists!

[theboss]

6. I think Thomas recently converted to Catholicism

Which means that Repubicans are 50/50 on Catholics since 1983. Which doesn't seem to mean much at all.

[Bucky]

8. It means this: they're looking for dependably stealth anti-Roe votes

I meant nothing more than this. I'm no religious bigot and attended a very Catholic university myself. But the intent of this pattern of appointments is pretty clear.

[theboss]

9. What pattern?

Every other nominee is Catholic?

[Bucky]

10. This one: Catholic-Catholic-Episcopalian -Catholic-Catholic

Since O'Connor, these are the Republican nominees:

Scalia (Catholic)
Kennedy (Catholic)
Souter (Episcopalian)
Thomas (Episcopalian, with strong Catholic history and subsequently reconverting to Catholic)
Roberts (Catholic)

Please don't try to construe this as an anti-religious screed. The only stand-ut there is Souter. Robert Bork, by the way, converted to Catholicism in 2003.