Whither the Protestant elite

From "The Hill"

For the first time in our nation’s history — should Elena Kagan get confirmed by the United States Senate — not one Supreme Court justice will be a mainline Protestant (or any kind of Protestant, for that matter).

This is historically significant.

The first Catholic Supreme Court justice was Roger Taney, who served on the court from 1836 to 1864. The second Catholic Supreme Court justice was Edward White, who was sworn in 30 years later.

The first Jewish Supreme Court justice was Louis Brandeis, who was not sworn in until 1916.

Historically speaking, about half of all Supreme Court justices have been either Episcopalian or Presbyterian. About a third of all justices have hailed from the Episcopal Church.

It is actually pretty amazing that not one Protestant is on the Supreme Court today.

Mainline Protestant Churches haven’t fared that well in Congress lately either, at least from a leadership perspective. In the House, both the Speaker and the House minority leader are Roman Catholic. In the Senate, the majority leader is a Mormon and the majority whip is a Catholic. Only one leader is Presbyterian and not one is Episcopalian. There is one Jewish member of leadership, one Methodist, and the rest are Baptist.

More here-

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/religion/97723-whither-the-protestant-elite