With the nomination (and presumed confirmation by the Senate in time for the first Monday in October) of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court, a moment in judicial history has been reached that would have been unimaginable, and perhaps repulsive, to the Framers.That is, six of the nine justices of the Supreme Court will be Roman Catholic, two will be Jewish, and only one -- John Paul Stevens, the Court's oldest member -- will be a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP). The Catholic bloc includes Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts and associate justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito.
Who would ever have foreseen a Catholic supermajority on the Supreme Court?
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Rick, I would dispute your suggestion that this is "a moment in judicial history has been reached that would have been unimaginable, and perhaps repulsive, to the Framers." I think the Framers were forward-thinking men who would be more shocked by the fact that so few of them are committed to the meaning and text of the Constitution than by their religious practices.
ReplyDeleteIn the frame of reference of the Founders - that means in their day - for all moron presentists out there, they would indeed have been shocked and upset.
ReplyDeleteBut, if they could be read on to what happened since 1776, they would know the Protestant adjective in the description of America, the American Creed, and American Culture and its Civilization morphed into Christian. And, as the late Prof Huntington points out in his last book, American Catholics have the world view and think like Protestants - especially post Vatican II. He has a great quote in his book about the dread in Rome when American clerics come a calling - how the Vatican folks call them "Protestants".