Institutional Traditions Changing

This past week with the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the continuing coverage of the two presidential nomination races, a reality of our times that has gone little commented on was brought into sharp focus—–the diversity of the candidates for president and the unusual makeup of the United States Supreme Court.

As Justice Scalia’s replacement is discussed, it is hard not to notice that an institution that was once the domain of white Anglo Saxon Protestant males now has not one W.A.S.P. on the nine member court. Instead, a court that for decades had seven Anglo justices, one (occasionally two) Roman Catholics and one (and once two) Jewish justices and no females now has NO Protestant justices, three Jews, three females, and until Justice Scalia’s death, six Catholic justices.

Other than perhaps the remnant of the Ku Klux Klan and other far out haters, that transformation has been barely remarked on. No one now seems to be clamoring for a Protestant to reclaim a seat on the Court—party affiliation and ideology seem far more important than a justice’s place of worship.

That was not historically the case—-when Louis J. Brandeis (the first Jewish justice) was appointed to the Court in 1916 by Woodrow Wilson, one critic “>Larry David’s impression on Saturday Night Live) yet, he attracts young people by the thousands and his religion seems irrelevant to their assessment of his qualifications.

When Sen. Joe Lieberman ran for vice president in 2000 I