Religious Makeup of the Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court ushered in its 114th justice earlier this week when Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as an Associate Justice after a bitter confirmation battle.

The Court will retain its Catholic majority with the addition of Kavanaugh. Over the course of its history, just over 80 percent of the justices have been Protestant. The makeup of the current court puts Catholic judges in the majority, where over half of the Justices are practicing Catholics. The Supreme Court has had a sitting Catholic majority on the bench since 2006.

The first Catholic justice was Roger B. Taney appointed to the Court by Andrew Jackson in 1836. Louise Brandeis was the first Jewish justice, appointed in 1916 by Woodrow Wilson. The religious breakdown of the court has moved considerably in recent years, while changes in other demographic categories have been much less dramatic. There have only been 3 justices who have not been white, and 4 judges who weren’t men.