Alito would give U.S. high court Catholic majority

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Roman Catholics would be the majority on the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time if Samuel Alito is confirmed -- a historically remarkable prospect in a country where "papists" were once taught in state schools that their faith was a lie.

But so far the development has passed for little more than a curiosity, reflecting how politics trumps religion when it comes to appointments to America's highest court, experts say.

Alito and the Catholics already on the court -- John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas -- appear to share many conservative views held by evangelical Protestants, a group historically suspicious of Rome and its hierarchical church.

The prospect of a Catholic court majority "is a credit to the evolution of America," said Julie Fenster, co-author of "Parish Priest," a book recently published by William Morrow about the Catholic priest who founded the Knights of Columbus.

"I don't think Catholics here realise how much their antecedents had to take on the chin in terms of job discrimination, public jeering -- in some towns it was hard to walk down the street without being shouted at," she said.

"And in the (public) schools you had to accept that your children would be taught from textbooks that said Catholicism was wrong," Fenster said.

Historically, many Americans questioned whether Roman Catholics could uphold the U.S. constitution, or whether they were obligated to follow the dictates of the Pope while in office. There has been only one Roman Catholic U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960.

But evangelical Protestants seem so far to be embracing Alito, unlike President George W. Bush's last court nominee, Harriet Miers.

"Look at how the evangelical right responded to one of its own when it came to Harriet Miers," said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

Bush nominated Miers, a fellow conservative Christian, last year but she withdrew under fierce attack from conservatives who questioned her credentials and commitment to conservative ideology.

"It just shows you how it's mostly about ideology and not about religion," added Walker, whose Washington-based coalition of 14 Baptist bodies works for religious liberty causes.

"I think it's good that not a lot is being made of it. Generally religion is not a very good predictor of how one will decide cases," he added, noting that former justice William Brennan, also a Catholic, was a liberal.

Of the remaining justices, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Ginsburg are Jewish, David Souter is Episcopalian and John Paul Stevens is Protestant.

"During much of 20th Century there was a Catholic seat and a Jewish seat (on the court). Anything but one Catholic would have created a lot of consternation among Protestants and evangelicals," said Martin Flaherty, a Fordham Law School professor who once clerked for former Supreme Court Justice Byron White.

Alito and the others appear to have far more things in common than differences, he said.

"On some level the court should be very roughly representative of the country. If you have not just a majority but (one) from a certain wing of a denomination you wonder if the court does represent the country," he added.

About one in four Americans say they are Roman Catholic, making the church by far the largest single U.S. denomination. There is no monolithic political philosophy marking the faith, despite the church's strong official opposition to abortion, a position widely shared by conservative evangelical Christians.

About 52 percent of Americans say they are Protestants, although mainline churches are losing members as the evangelical movement grows. Less than 2 percent of the U.S. population is Jewish.

One anomaly is that 20 percent of U.S. Catholics are Hispanic, yet none of the five who would be on the court is, noted Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey at the National Opinion Research Centre in Chicago.

Religion "has pretty much become passe" as an issue, he suggested, except to the degree that it becomes a hot potato in nearly every U.S. presidential campaign when candidates define their stand on abortion.

Opposition to Alito has come from groups worried that the court would eliminate the right to abortion. Legal Momentum, a woman's legal rights group, said it feared putting Alito on the court would be "adversarial to a woman's right to choose."

Subtract Kennedy.

But evangelical Protestants seem so far to be embracing Alito, unlike President George W. Bush's last court nominee, Harriet Miers.

"Look at how the evangelical right responded to one of its own when it came to Harriet Miers," said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

Bush nominated Miers, a fellow conservative Christian, last year but she withdrew under fierce attack from conservatives who questioned her credentials and commitment to conservative ideology.

"It just shows you how it's mostly about ideology and not about religion," added Walker, whose Washington-based coalition of 14 Baptist bodies works for religious liberty causes.

Never fails, they'll always take the opportunity to re-write history. During the period of time refered to everyone wrote articles about how Christian conservatives were the ones backing her, it was everyone else on the Conservative scale against. Now they are stating Miers was forced out because of Christian conservatives. In truth, neither accounts were correct. The Christian conservative movement was split between Dobson on one side (who at the end flipped into opposition), those opposed, and those like Perkins that were opposed but reserving judgement which is about the same thing. The rest of the conservative movement was pretty solidly against her, with a significant minority wanting to give Faith because G.W.B. chose her. Overall, it was one of the rare times most of the movement was in sync that she should go by the end and it was NOT based solely on ideology but grave doubts about her qualifications, judicial philosophy and abilities for the job.

No doubts about Alito's experience, qualifications, intellectual firepower as well people have a fair confidence his Judicial philosophy is not one that embraces the concept of a living Constitution. This is why he has the backing of conservatives, including evangelicals. being a Catholic or an evangelical means not a wit to me.

Religion passe? Not quite. The difference is that a person identifying themselves as a member of a certain church means nothing unless you are pledging yourself to a satanic Cult. Ted Kennedy states he is a Catholic. Ted Kennedy is a social Catholic. It's meant to enhance his resume, appeal to constituents, it's more of a family tradition then spiritual devotion. Whereas the Pope is a Catholic in spiritual Faith, as it should be. It's no different for any body of faith. protestant, evangelical..everyone has their own social worshipers that congregate to socialize or advance themselves rather then reserve the time for worship.

Instead of getting caught up on classifications of Faith, people have gotten wise to the knowledge someone defining themselves as a Christian doesn't mean they are pro-Life, believe in keeping the Pledge intact, etc... To take it a step further, someone that is a "conservative" Christian for want of a better term at the moment, could believe in a living Constitution. There is no certainty a conservative Christian or catholic automatically will treat the Constitution in the manner of a Thomas. neither is there certainty a Liberal necessarily will support a living Constitution, though most tend to. So, using religion to devine how a Justice will approach the Constitution is out because it isn't a fail safe barometer. Doesn't mean religion is passe, just that it has no ability to answer the broader question of whether someone will make law. It's meaningless in this debate except in defining characters of the nominees.

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