Saturday, February 27, 2016

Put a Protestant on the Supreme Court


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Letter:
Put a Protestant on the Supreme Court


The sad death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has brought great focus to the process that would bring a replacement justice to the high court. Democrats want President Barack Obama to immediately nominate a liberal; Republicans want no nomination now because another liberal is the last thing they want.

I’d like to forget the liberal versus conservative tussle for now and raise a different issue: Given Obama’s masterful practice of identity politics, his worship of diversity, and his manifest concern for equity and fairness — shouldn’t he be giving his attention to a different facet of the court’s makeup? By this I mean, should not the faith traditions of the justices be taken into consideration when balancing out the type of people selected to serve on the court?

Many leftists cringe if anyone suggests that our nation was founded on Christian principles. Fair enough, but the founders themselves were overwhelmingly Protestant Christians. Currently, the faith tradition for an estimated 46.5 percent of Americans is still one form of Protestantism or another. And how many Protestants were there on the current U.S. Supreme Court prior to Scalia’s death? Answer: None. Prior to Scalia’s death, three followers of the Jewish tradition and six Roman Catholic adherents held seats on that court.

Given the present makeup of the court, it seems to me that Obama has an opportunity to add an important voice and point of view, and an opportunity to rectify an injustice, by appointing an otherwise qualified Protestant to that bench. Will his do this? Don’t hold your breath.


— Charles F. Falk, Schaumburg



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