Justice John Paul Stevens, 90 years old, has announced his retirement. He is probably the most liberal justice, to the point that whoever President Obama nominates will probably be more conservative than he is. Even if he or she is as liberal as he was, it won’t change the balance of the court. But once Justice Stevens leaves, there will be no more Protestants on the Supreme Court. So much for WASP dominance in America.
Of course, being a mainline Protestant was no impediment to his liberalism and his support for abortion. And that most members of the court today are Catholic just demonstrates how split that tradition is between conservative and liberal factions, including on abortion. We did have a Lutheran justice not too long ago in Chief Justice Rehnquist. I think, in the name of diversity, we should have at least a token evangelical Christian of some sort on the court, religion surely being as valid a category as race or ethnicity.
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