In her Senate Judiciary confirmation hearings in March, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson was asked by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, “What faith are you, by the way?” Jackson replied that she was a nondenominational Protestant.
Jackson, who was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, will be only the second Protestant on the high court when she joins the court this summer, along with Neil Gorsuch (who is Episcopalian but was raised Catholic). The justice whom Jackson will replace, Stephen Breyer, is Jewish, as is Elena Kagan, who remains on the court. The remaining six justices — John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — are Catholic. Thus, the court will consist of six Catholics, two Protestants, and one Jew.
This is not reflective of the U.S. population, as has been widely discussed in recent years. Our latest estimate from over 15,000 Gallup interviews conducted from January 2021 through March of this year shows that about 22% of the adult population identifies as Catholic, as opposed to the 67% Catholic representation on the court. CONTINUED
Frank Newport, Gallup
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