Conservative Catholics on the Court

A few thoughts to add on why the Catholics on the Court now make up a majority and why they're the conservative wing.  (Note that one of them is a bit of an accident: Thomas, who converted back to Catholicism after he joined the Court.)   

The current position of Catholics in America really begins with Vatican II and the "mainstreaming" of Catholics beginning in the mid to late 1960s.  Since then, Democratic presidents have had relatively little chance to appoint justices -- Carter had no opportunity -- and Clinton in his opportunities  appointed justices who weren't Catholic (who were Jewish).  It's not surprising that conservative presidents would have many more chances to appoint Catholics, because they've had many more chances overall.

Republicans recently have used their opportunities to appoint a lot of Catholics (a disproportionate number), for a couple of reasons.  There may be some element of political calculation in it: for example, W Bush using SCT appointments among other things to try to cement conservative Catholics' ties to the Republican party.  I don't think that's been a big factor, but it could have played a role.  In addition, however, I have a sense that the other component of the conservative religious coalition -- evangelical Protestants -- hasn't yet developed a pool of lawyers/judges with elite educational and professional credentials that's as large as the conservative Catholic pool.  Evangelicals are attending Ivy League schools, but they're perhaps a decade behind the Catholics in doing so.  (Watch for an incerasing number of evangelicals in the future.)  And the clumsy interventions of people such as James Dobson in the Miers nomination may show that some evangelical activist leaders aren't quite ready for prime time yet.  Judge Michael McConnell would have been the sterling nominee who happens to be a conservative Protestant (I confess to bias on that matter, as his co-author, former student, and friend).

Tom