President Obama's nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court has energized both her supporters and her detractors. And while the media has been abuzz with facts, figures, hints and allegations (a tip of the hat to Paul Simon), I stumbled across a bizarre and troubling article yesterday: Top court will have no Protestants with Kagan.
The article discusses that if Kagan is confirmed as expected, the Supreme Court will have three Jewish and six Roman Catholic judges, and it will be without a Protestant judge for the first time. While that is seen by some as a sign of religious maturity, because 50 years ago the thought of a court with three Jewish and six Catholic judges would have been impossible to fathom, I wonder: why, in this day and age, are the religious beliefs of a Supreme Court justice even an issue? And while I'd understand if this article was written for a religious magazine, why Reuters?
I guess there are times I slip into my Pollyanna mindset and believe that we should want the best candidates to serve our nation, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, etc. Isn't it better that the court is starting to look a little more like America than it did even 30 years ago? I guess the separation of church and state only applies when things go your way...
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