Evidence of Sonia Sotomayer's religion has been hard to come by, but a White House official just confirmed to me that she, in fact, Catholic.
UPDATE 2:10 pm.: Another White House official elaborated slightly, "Judge Sotomayor was raised as a Catholic and attends church for family celebrations and other important events."
As David Gibson points out, that would mean six of the nine justices would be Catholic.
Why does it matter if she's Catholic?
Politically, it's tougher to be a pro-choice Catholic than a pro-choice Protestant, as the former will be cast as not only wrong on the issue but, in effect, a bad catholic. Remember how some bishops argued in 2004 that John Kerry shouldn't receive communion, prompting reporters track whether, on any given Sunday, Kerry would be denied the sacrament (this became known as the "wafer watch")
If they're consistent, the conservative Bishops will surely have to argue that Sotomayor should not receive communion. Will we have a SCOTUS Wafer Watch for Sotomayor?
Of course if she only goes to church on holidays, she may be able to avoid a wafer watch (while no doubt drawing complaints that she's not religious enough).
And...we don't actually no for sure that she even is pro-choice.*
Randall Terry of Operation Rescue put it this way: "It will be an uphill battle, but if the GOP will honor its platform, and Catholic Bishops will obey the directives of John Paul II, we could keep Sotomayor off the court."
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
Marlene: Quite apart from the fact that the Constitution does not mention "separation of church and state" -- let alone go to "great lengths" to keep them separate -- even if it did, that would be saying that state unilaterally determines the relationship between church and state, and has chosen that they remain separate. This is a possible position, but certainly not an unassailable one.
Marlene:
There are two places Constitution touches on church and state. One is the "no religious test" clause in Article VI:
"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
The other is the First Amendment, which never talks about "separation" at all, rather it actually says:
"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
I'm not clear what connection you are making between these passages and this thread, however. Could you say more please?
Sorry to say, poorly researched posts are more the rule on the exception on this site - at least involving the Catholic Church. A minute of online research and you would know that a judge has no duty to apply Catholic teachings in interpreting law.
Gerry:
Yes, this has proven to be a real disappointment.
I think this is an important question and one which I have addressed on my blog. I think this will frame the debate around Sotomayor's confirmation and, whether he wants to or not, President Obama will be drawn into this, the most divisive of issues in American politics.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.