Nominee For Chief Justice Would Be Third Catholic In That Position

From Catholic News Service:

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Should Judge John G. Roberts be confirmed as the chief justice of the United States, he would become the third Catholic to hold that post.

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The first Catholic on the Supreme Court was also the first Catholic chief justice. Justice Roger B. Taney served as chief from 1836 until 1864. Taney, the son of a Maryland plantation owner and slaveholder, was named to the court to fill the vacancy for chief justice.

The only other Catholic to have been chief justice, Edward Douglas White, was elevated to the position in 1910 after 16 years on the court as an associate justice.

Roberts would be the 10th Catholic on the court since it first assembled in 1790.

He also would be the fourth Catholic among its current members, joining Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas, the most at one time. Until Kennedy joined Scalia on the court in 1988, there had only been one Catholic on the court at a time.

[Full story]

My Comments:
I didn't realize Roger Taney was Catholic. I had no idea that it could be possibe for any Catholic to be responsible for such a travesty of justice as Dred Scott v. Sanford.

Of course, being "Catholic" didn't keep William J. Brennan from signing on to Dred Scott's 20th Century reincarnation in the form of Roe v. Wade.

UPDATE:
The other interesting statistic (at least to me) in this story is that, before 1988, there was never more than 1 Catholic serving on the Court at a time. I don't know why, but I always assumed that Byron White - who served on the Court at the same time as Brennan - was Catholic (he was actually Epicopalian). Probably had something to do with his being (1) appointed by President John F. Kennedy and (2) pro life.

UPDATE # 2:
Wait a minute. Didn't Scalia serve on the Court with Brennan? Indeed, Scalia was nominated and confirmed in 1986, while Brennan was still a member of the Court. Not to quibble with the details of the story, but that made 2 Catholics serving simultaneously in 1986, not 1988. When Kennedy was confirmed in 1988, Brennan was still on the Court, which made Kennedy a 3rd Catholic on the Court at one time.

Maybe the author of this piece is taking issue with pro-abort William Brennan's status as a "Catholic". But then, that would apply to Anthony Kennedy as well.