Elena Kagan is the only Jewish justice currently serving on the Supreme Court. She has held her seat since 2010 and became the Court’s sole Jewish member after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death in 2020 and Stephen Breyer’s retirement in 2022.
Elena Kagan
Kagan earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton in 1981, a Master of Philosophy from Worcester College, Oxford in 1983, and her law degree from Harvard in 1986, where she served as supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review. She later joined the Harvard Law School faculty and became its dean in 2003.
President Barack Obama appointed her Solicitor General in 2009, making her the first woman to hold that position. When Justice John Paul Stevens retired in 2010, Obama nominated Kagan to replace him, and the Senate confirmed her by a vote of 63 to 37.1U.S. Senate. Roll Call Vote 111th Congress – 2nd Session She is widely considered a member of the Court’s liberal wing.2Justia. Justice Elena Kagan
How the Court Went From Three Jewish Justices to One
From 2010 to 2020, three Jewish justices served together for the first time in the Court’s history: Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan. That period ended with Ginsburg’s death on September 18, 2020. President Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to fill her seat, and Barrett was confirmed weeks later.
Breyer retired at the end of the Court’s 2021–2022 term. President Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson, who identifies as a non-denominational Protestant, to replace him. Jackson’s confirmation left Kagan as the only remaining Jewish justice.3Supreme Court of the United States. Current Members
Jewish Justices in the Court’s History
Kagan is the eighth Jewish justice to serve on the Supreme Court. The first was Louis Brandeis, nominated by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. His confirmation lasted more than four months and drew open anti-Semitism from parts of the legal establishment, including opposition from former President William Howard Taft and skepticism from Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.
After Brandeis, an informal “Jewish seat” emerged through successive appointments. Benjamin Cardozo joined the bench in 1932. Felix Frankfurter succeeded Cardozo in 1939, Arthur Goldberg succeeded Frankfurter in 1962, and Abe Fortas succeeded Goldberg in 1965. The tradition broke in 1969 when President Nixon replaced Fortas with Harry Blackmun, a Methodist. No Jewish justice sat on the Court for the next 24 years. President Clinton revived the pattern by appointing Ginsburg in 1993 and Breyer in 1994.
Religious Makeup of the Current Court
The current Court skews heavily Catholic. Six justices identify as Catholic: Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Neil Gorsuch was raised Catholic but has attended an Episcopal church since joining the bench. Ketanji Brown Jackson identifies as a non-denominational Protestant. Kagan is Jewish.
That composition is historically unusual. Protestant justices made up the overwhelming majority for most of the Court’s history. The current Catholic concentration reflects appointment choices over recent decades rather than any formal pattern.
Is There a Religious Requirement?
No. The Constitution does not require Supreme Court justices to hold any particular faith or any faith at all. Article VI prohibits religious tests for public office, stating that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”4Congress.gov. Constitution Annotated – Article VI Clause 3 Article III, which creates the federal judiciary, sets no requirements for age, citizenship, legal education, or prior judicial experience.5Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article III
Whether future appointments restore greater Jewish representation on the Court depends on who is president and which seats become vacant. The informal Jewish seat that existed from 1916 to 1969 was always a matter of political choice, not constitutional design.