Posted on 07/20/2005 7:06:32 PM PDT by Salvation
IF NOTHING ELSE, REPORTS THAT ROBERTS IS PRACTICING CATHOLIC MAY INTENSIFY FIGHT
It's unclear how intense the battle over Supreme Court nominee John Roberts will be. "Easy time seen for judicial nominee," said The Washington Times. "Battle Looms," headlined MSNBC. "Confirmation battle looms," added CBS almost identically.
"This should be a straightforward confirmation," said Senator Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings on the nomination.
"The president has chosen someone with suitable legal credentials, but that is not the end of our inquiry," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, opined.
And so we see how unclear, as yet, that the battle lines are.
Predictably, radical groups like the NARAL Pro-Choice America and Move On quickly denounced the selection. Conservatives were generally pleased -- very pleased -- although some fretted that because so little is known about Judge Roberts -- because there is a thin "paper trail" on his views -- he could turn out to be another David Souter, who President Bush's father placed on the Court and who turned out to be pro-choice despite contrary expectations.
While Roberts has argued against Roe versus Wade -- the landmark 1973 decision that allowed abortion -- he has also stated that Roe is the "settled law of the land."
Which views are his and which are those of the clients he had represented?
The reports are that Judge Roberts' wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, once served as vice president for a group called Feminists for Life. We know that she attended the College of The Holy Cross and is a member of the board of governors of the John Carroll Society, a Catholic lay organization that sponsors the annual Washington archdiocesan Red Mass before the opening of the Supreme Court term. Judge Roberts is himself -- reportedly -- a practicing Catholic. He grew up in Long Beach, Indiana, where he attended Catholic elementary and high schools. He was captain of the football team and class president at La Lumiere, a Catholic college prep school, before going on to earn undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard.
If confirmed, Roberts would be the eleventh Catholic to serve on the court.
And that alone greatly increases the chance of conflict.
Look at two of the Catholics on the current bench. They are the lightning rods: Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
"Judge Robert's confirmation hearings are ripe for anti- religious bigotry," said Fidelis President Joseph Cella. "Judge Roberts is a faithful Catholic, who is devoted to his wife and children. With the history of Catholic and Christian judicial nominees attacked because of their religious faith and family life in past Senate confirmation hearings, we call on Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, ranking member Senator Patrick Leahy, Senators Charles Schumer, Dick Durbin and Russ Feingold to prevent this vile brand of hate politics from entering this important process. Judge Roberts is an eminently qualified jurist, and his outstanding legal credentials and temperament should enable his confirmation prior to the Supreme Court reconvening on October 3."
| Justice | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| William H. Rehnquist | Lutheran |
| Stephen G. Breyer | Jewish |
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Jewish |
| Anthony M. Kennedy | Catholic |
| Sandra Day O'Connor | Episcopalian |
| Antonin Scalia | Catholic |
| David H. Souter | Episcopalian |
| John Paul Stevens | Protestant |
| Clarence Thomas | Catholic |
| Religious Affiliation | Justices | % of U.S. Pop. in this religion |
% of Justices in this religion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christian | Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, O'Connor, Souter, Stevens, Rehnquist | 76.5% | 78% |
| Protestant* | Stevens, Rehnquist | 57.0% | 22% |
| Lutheran | Rehnquist | 5.2% | 11% |
| Catholic | Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas | 24.5% | 33% |
| Episcopalian | O'Connor, Souter | 1.7% | 22% |
| Jewish | Breyer, Ginsburg | 1.8% | 22% |
* Protestant: Episcopalians have been left out of the "Protestant" category in the table above. Depending on the type of classification system consulted, Anglicans/Episcopalians are sometimes classified as "Protestant" and sometimes not. If one includes the two Episcopalian justices, 44% (4 out of 9) of the Supreme Court justices are Protestant.
I don't get it. The Democrats adore their deceased Catholic president, but detest the idea of a Catholic justice on the Supreme Court? What gives?
I found the listing of religions fascinating. Too bad you don't.
Just remember that JFK was a CINO.
The Spiritdaily is over-wrought, and the font is butt ugly. With "friends" like this, who needs ... ."
Depends on whether or not the guy is a "good Catholic" or just "a Catholic". Odds are Judge Roberts doesn't mess around like John Kennedy and his brothers did, so Democrats will have a problem with him.
| Affiliation | # of Justices |
% of Justices |
% of U.S. population, 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episcopal | 33 | 30.8% | 1.7% |
| Presbyterian | 18 | 16.8% | 2.8% |
| "Protestant" not further defined * | 15 | 14.0% | 9.7% |
| Catholic | 10 | 9.3% | 24.5% |
| Unitarian | 9 | 8.4% | 0.2% |
| Jewish | 7 | 6.5% | 1.8% |
| Methodist | 5 | 4.7% | 8.0% |
| Baptist | 3 | 2.8% | 18.0% |
| Congregational | 1 | 0.9% | 0.6% |
| Disciples of Christ | 1 | 0.9% | 0.3% |
| Lutheran | 1 | 0.9% | 5.2% |
| Quaker | 1 | 0.9% | 0.1% |
| Not a member of any church | 1 | 0.9% | |
| Church of Disciples (?) | 1 | 0.9% | |
| Trinity Church (?) | 1 | 0.9% | |
| Total | 107 | 100.0% | 74.4% |
Some major U.S. religious groups which have never been represented on the U.S. Supreme Court: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints/Mormons (2%), Pentecostals (1.8%), Muslims (1.5%), Eastern Orthodox (1%).
I really don't. I think it is much ado about nothing. Either Roberts will be confirmed or the filibuster will be nuked. I am happy both ways.
Bush's nomination of John Roberts goes a long way in making up for other shortcomings.
Way to go W!
Well, the democRATs had no problem with a Catholic president and AG...oops, my bad, thats before the democRATs became the party of the Antichrist.
5.56mm
thanks for voicing your opinion.
Don't let the anklebiters detract you. I found the stats interesting too.
I don't seem to recall the MSM making a big deal out of Kerry being Catholic (albeit CINO).
| Justice | Religion |
|---|---|
| Charles E. Hughes | Baptist |
| Howell E. Jackson | Baptist |
| Hugo L. Black | Baptist |
| Anthony M. Kennedy | Catholic |
| Antonin Scalia | Catholic |
| Clarence Thomas | Catholic |
| Edward D. White | Catholic |
| Frank Murphy | Catholic |
| Joseph McKenna | Catholic |
| Pierce Butler | Catholic |
| Roger B. Taney | Catholic |
| Sherman Minton | Catholic |
| William J. Brennan | Catholic |
| Joseph R. Lamar | Church of Disciples (?) |
| Oliver Ellsworth | Congregational |
| James C. McReynolds | Disciples of Christ |
| Alfred Moore | Episcopal |
| Benjamin R. Curtis 2 | Episcopal |
| Bushrod Washington | Episcopal |
| Byron R. White | Episcopal |
| David H. Souter | Episcopal |
| Edward T. Sanford | Episcopal |
| George Sutherland | Episcopal |
| Harlan F. Stone | Episcopal |
| Horace H. Lurton | Episcopal |
| James F. Byrnes | Episcopal |
| James Iredell | Episcopal |
| James Wilson | Episcopal |
| John A. Campbell | Episcopal |
| John Jay | Episcopal |
| John Marshall | Episcopal |
| John Rutledge 4 | Episcopal |
| Melville W. Fuller | Episcopal |
| Morrison R. Waite | Episcopal |
| Owen J. Roberts | Episcopal |
| Peter V. Daniel | Episcopal |
| Philip P. Barbour | Episcopal |
| Potter Stewart | Episcopal |
| Robert H. Jackson | Episcopal |
| Rufus W. Peckham | Episcopal |
| Salmon P. Chase | Episcopal |
| Samuel Chase | Episcopal |
| Sandra Day O'Connor | Episcopal |
| Stephen J. Field | Episcopal |
| Thomas Johnson | Episcopal |
| Thurgood Marshall | Episcopal |
| Ward Hunt | Episcopal |
| William H. Moody | Episcopal |
| Willis Van Devanter | Episcopal |
| Abe Fortas | Jewish |
| Arthur J. Goldberg | Jewish |
| Benjamin N. Cardozo | Jewish |
| Felix Frankfurter | Jewish |
| Louis D. Brandeis | Jewish |
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Jewish |
| Stephen G. Breyer | Jewish |
| William H. Rehnquist | Lutheran |
| Charles E. Whittaker | Methodist |
| Frederick M. Vinson | Methodist |
| Harry A. Blackmun | Methodist |
| John McLean 5 | Methodist |
| Lucius Q. C. Lamar | Methodist |
| David Davis | Not a member of any church. |
| Brockholst Livingston | Presbyterian |
| George Shiras, Jr. | Presbyterian |
| John Blair | Presbyterian |
| John Catron | Presbyterian |
| John M. Harlan | Presbyterian |
| Joseph P. Bradley | Presbyterian |
| Lewis F. Powell, Jr. | Presbyterian |
| Mahlon Pitney | Presbyterian |
| Robert C. Grier | Presbyterian |
| Samuel Blatchford | Presbyterian |
| Smith Thompson | Presbyterian |
| Stanley Matthews | Presbyterian |
| Thomas Todd | Presbyterian |
| Tom C. Clark | Presbyterian |
| Warren E. Burger | Presbyterian |
| William Johnson | Presbyterian |
| William O. Douglas | Presbyterian |
| William Strong | Presbyterian |
| Gabriel Duval 6 | Protestant |
| David J. Brewer | Protestant |
| Earl Warren | Protestant |
| Henry B. Brown | Protestant |
| James M. Wayne | Protestant |
| John H. Clarke | Protestant |
| John McKinley | Protestant |
| John Paul Stevens | Protestant |
| Levi Woodbury | Protestant |
| Robert Trimble | Protestant |
| Samuel Nelson | Protestant |
| Stanley F. Reed | Protestant |
| William B. Woods | Protestant |
| William Paterson | Protestant |
| William R. Day | Protestant |
| Noah H. Swayne | Quaker |
| Henry Baldwin | Trinity Church |
| Harold H. Burton | Unitarian |
| Horace Gray | Unitarian |
| Joseph Story | Unitarian |
| Nathan Clifford 1 | Unitarian |
| Oliver W. Holmes | Unitarian |
| Samuel F. Miller | Unitarian |
| Wiley B. Rutledge | Unitarian |
| William Cushing | Unitarian |
| William H. Taft | Unitarian |
* "Protestant" not further defined: According to 2000 Gallup polling data, 57% of Americans identify themselves as Protestants. But most also identify with a specific denomination or denominational family. In the 1990 Kosmin NSRI survey, 9.7% of Americans stated their religious preference as "Protestant", without further denominational identification.
It is important to note that the relative proportion of membership in various religious groups has changed dramatically over the course of U.S. history. For example, when the nation was founded, Congregationalists and Episcopalians were among the largest denominations, but there were very few Catholics. Today, the Catholic Church is the largest U.S. denomination. Also, there are only nine Supreme Court justices, so it would be impossible to ever have a Court that reflects every possible demographic group. So, to compare the proportion of Supreme Court justices in various denominations from throughout U.S. history versus the proportion of U.S. citizens in those denominations today is not as meaningful as, for example, comparing the current religious composition of the U.S. House of Representatives to the current religious demographics of the U.S. population.
Thank God.
The usual hypocrisy, that's all.
Def - The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
More to the point, with the DIMs being so obviously anti-religion, why do the majority of Catholics vote for them?
Amzing to me that Jewish and Catholics are fairly newcomers to the list also!
That's my call. Your mileage obviously varies.
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