Cultural coverage of Sonia Sotomayor’s ascension to the Supreme Court has centered on her ethnicity (first Hispanic) and her sex (third woman). Overlooked in the excitement is her religion. Sotomayor is a Roman Catholic. No big deal? With her confirmation, six of the nine justices of the Supreme Court are Catholic. Sotomayor joins Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Catholics, who represent 25% of the U.S. population, now have a two-thirds majority on the nation’s highest court. Never before in U.S. history have six sitting justices of the Supreme Court been members of the same religious denomination.

 

Since two of the other three justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, are Jewish, that leaves just one Protestant, 89-year-old John Paul Stevens, to represent the 53% of Americans who identify themselves as Protestants. Retired Justice David Souter is an Episcopalian, as is another recently retired judge, Sandra Day O’Connor, With Souter’s departure, the Supreme Court will be without an Episcopalian for the first time in more than 50 years.

 

Considering that Sotomayor is only the eleventh Catholic Supreme Court justice ever, the Catholic dominance of the current Court is startling. However, it is clear from their records that the six Catholic justices are highly unlikely to rule as a block.

-David Wallechinsky