Confessional Supreme Court Firsts

For most of its history, the majority of the Supreme Court has been made up, predictably, of the founding demographic of the country and reflected that.  Most Supreme Court Justices have been Protestant and the most frequently represented Protestant denomination has been the Episcopal Church.  Today, however, only one member of the court is Episcopalian and one member, Justice Thomas, is a former Episcopalian.  Indeed, oddly, Justice Gorsuch was raised a Catholic and became an Episcopalian and Justice Thomas was raised Catholic, became an Episcopalian and then reverted to his Catholicism.  There is, in fact, some speculation that Gorsuch may in fact regard himself as a Catholic, which some highly traditional Episcopalians do.

No other Protestant denominations are represented on the Court today at all.

The majority of those on the bench today are Catholics or a near majority, depending upon the degree of affiliation with the Church they actually have. Some are known to be quite observant, such as Justice Thomas.  Others, like Justice Sotomayor, appear to be nominal Catholics.

The first Catholic justice was Roger B. Taney, who was appointed in 1837 at a time with anti Catholicism was rampant in the country, making his appointment accordingly quite surprising.  That he was Chief Justice is all the more surprising.  His wife was an Episcopalian and his children raised in that faith, making him, at least to that extent, a non observant Catholic to some degree.

Fifteen member of the court have been Protestants without declared confessions.

Louis Brandeis was the first Supreme Court Justice who was Jewish.  He was appointed to the bench in 1916. Interestingly, however, Judah P. Benjamin would have had that honor in 1853 but declined it.  He want on to be the Secretary of State for the Confederacy, a much less honorable role.  There have been a total of eight Jewish justices to date.

The religious makeup of the Court is a significant matter as the Court tends to be weighted heavily towards intellectuals who are often deeply informed by their faiths.  The significant number of Catholic members and Jewish members in recent years says something about the demographics of the Court and it reflects back on the world view, albeit not perfectly, of those on the bench.  It tends to also show the degree to which the law reflects itself as a profession toward enduringly immigrant populations.  Law is often imagined as a career of the wealthy, but in reality it tends to be a profession of minorities, who always have need of it.