Of the nine justices currently serving on the U.S. Supreme Court, six come from Catholic backgrounds, one is Jewish, and one is non-denominational Protestant. The ninth was raised Catholic but now attends an Episcopal church with his family. That makes the religion of Supreme Court justices today heavily weighted toward Catholicism, in a country where Catholics are roughly 20 percent of the population.
The Current Nine Justices and Their Faiths
The headline numbers hide some real nuance. A few justices wear the label of their childhood faith comfortably; others have complicated relationships with it, and one has quietly moved to a different church entirely.
- Chief Justice John Roberts — Catholic. Raised in the faith and educated at Catholic schools before Harvard Law.
- Justice Clarence Thomas — Catholic. He once entered a seminary intending to become a priest, left the Church for more than two decades over frustrations with what he saw as its failure to confront racism, and eventually returned.
- Justice Samuel Alito — Catholic. Raised in a devout Italian-American Catholic family in New Jersey.
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor — Raised Catholic in the Bronx. She has described herself as “maybe not traditionally religious,” making her relationship with the faith harder to pin down than the label suggests.
- Justice Neil Gorsuch — Raised Catholic, now attends St. John’s Episcopal Church in Boulder, Colorado, with his family. He has not spoken publicly about the specifics of that transition, which is why some counts place him with the Catholics and others with the Protestants.
- Justice Elena Kagan — Jewish. She is the only Jewish justice currently on the bench.
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh — Catholic. He has spoken publicly about the role of faith and community service in his life.
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett — Catholic. A member of People of Praise, a charismatic Christian community whose involvement drew unusual scrutiny during her confirmation.
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — Non-denominational Protestant. She described her faith in those terms when Senator Lindsey Graham asked about it during her confirmation hearings.1Gallup. The Religion of the Supreme Court Justices
Depending on how you count Gorsuch, the Court has either five or six Catholics, one or two Protestants, and one Jewish justice. Most reporting uses baptismal background and lands on six Catholics.
How This Compares to the Court’s History
For roughly the Court’s first century, the bench was almost exclusively Protestant, drawn from mainline denominations like the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Unitarian churches. The first break came in 1836, when President Andrew Jackson nominated Roger Brooke Taney, who became the first Catholic justice.2Oyez. Roger B. Taney Nearly eighty years passed before the next major milestone: President Woodrow Wilson’s 1916 nomination of Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish justice, confirmed 47-22 after a bitterly contested process.3Justia. Justice Louis Brandeis
An informal tradition followed. Presidents treated certain seats as a “Catholic seat” or “Jewish seat,” replacing a retiring justice of one faith with a nominee of the same one. That custom faded as presidents put judicial philosophy ahead of demographic matching, and the shift has been dramatic. No justice raised Protestant was appointed between David Souter in 1990 and Jackson’s arrival on the Court. The last Protestant to cast a vote before Jackson and Gorsuch was John Paul Stevens, who retired in 2010.
The Court has yet to seat a Muslim, Hindu, or openly atheist justice. Benjamin Cardozo, who served from 1932 to 1938, was described by contemporaries as an avowed agnostic.
Why Faith Is Not a Qualification for the Bench
Article VI, Clause 3 of the Constitution states that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”4Congress.gov. Article VI – Clause 3 Oaths of Office The federal government cannot demand that a Supreme Court nominee belong to a particular church or hold any religious belief at all. The First Amendment reinforces the same principle from the other side.5Legal Information Institute. U.S. Constitution Annotated Article VI Clause 3 – Bar on Religious Tests
That restriction binds the government, not the public. Citizens, commentators, and senators regularly discuss a nominee’s faith, and confirmation hearings sit in a gray area. In September 2017, Senator Dianne Feinstein told Amy Coney Barrett during her appeals court hearing that “the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern.” Senator Chuck Grassley responded on the Senate floor that “no religious test should ever be part of our evaluation” of judicial nominees. When Senator Graham later asked Jackson “What faith are you, by the way?” the question drew little pushback, framed as casual curiosity rather than as a qualification. Where legitimate inquiry ends and an unconstitutional religious test begins remains unresolved and politically charged.
Religious affiliation is also not grounds for recusal. Under 28 U.S.C. § 455, holding a position in “an educational, religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organization” does not count as a disqualifying financial interest.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 455 – Disqualification of Justice, Judge, or Magistrate Judge The Supreme Court’s Code of Conduct, adopted in November 2023, likewise does not list religious affiliation as a basis for stepping aside from a case.7Supreme Court of the United States. Code of Conduct for Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States No justice has ever publicly recused solely because of a personal religious affiliation.
Does the Catholic Majority Shape How the Court Rules?
Whether the justices’ backgrounds move their votes on religion cases is a question that generates strong opinions and no definitive answer. What is clear is that the Court’s framework for evaluating religious expression has shifted, and the justices in the majority for that shift all come from Catholic backgrounds.
For decades, courts used the three-part test from Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) to evaluate Establishment Clause claims. The Court effectively retired that test in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022), a 6-3 decision written by Justice Gorsuch. The majority held that the Establishment Clause should be interpreted by “reference to historical practices and understandings” rather than Lemon’s multi-factor framework.8Supreme Court of the United States. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District A government practice involving religion now passes constitutional review if it fits within a longstanding American historical tradition.9Constitution Annotated. Establishment Clause and Historical Practices and Tradition
The six justices in the Kennedy majority were Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, all from Catholic backgrounds. The three dissenters were Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson. Some legal scholars have drawn a line from the majority’s upbringing to its more accommodating view of public religious expression. But those same six form the conservative bloc on many issues unrelated to religion, and their votes in Kennedy align with a broader originalist method that extends well beyond faith-related cases. Correlation on the religion docket is real; causation is harder to prove.