Don't sell yourself short, judge. You're a trememdous slouch.

You may have heard about the nominee for Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, a Jewish woman. That would give you a bench 33% female. Personally, I like the idea of having a bench that somewhat reflects the diverse demographics of the nation, assuming the judges are qualified.

What you may not know, however, is that John Paul Stevens was the lone Protestant on the bench. If Kagan is confirmed, you will have the following bench:

• Samuel Alito - Roman Catholic
• Anthony Kennedy - Roman Catholic
• John Roberts - Roman Catholic
• Antonin Scalia - Roman Catholic
• Sonia Sotomayor - Roman Catholic
• Clarence Thomas - Roman Catholic
• Stephen Breyer - Jewish
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Jewish
• Elena Kagan - Jewish

Two things come to mind:

FIRST ... I don't know how many Americans who profess faith in Christ would call themselves Protestant, or non-Roman Catholic,* but I'm willing to bet it's greater than 0% of the population. In other words, if you're looking for diversity, a very significant percentage of the American people have no representation on the Court.

SECOND ... And this is really more of a Roman Catholic question with regard to the abortion issue ... If, and I know it is, the Roman Catholic Church is unequivocally pro-life (i.e., anti-abortion), even to the point of threatening ex-communication and/or denial of the Eucharist to politicians who vote pro-choice, why aren't pro-choice advocates concerned about a 2/3 majority on the Court whose religion's litmus test is unabashedly pro-life?

Similarly, is there, will there be, or should there be, from a papal standpoint, significant repercussions for a Roman Catholic Court that did/does not exercise its God-ordained power to overturn Roe vs. Wade, 1973?

*I know for simplicity's sake many see professing believers in Jesus in a dichotomy of Roman Catholic or Protestant, but there is also the reality that many prefer to not trace their roots to/through Protestantism and there are those outside the realm of Christian orthodoxy (e.g., Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses) for whom the term certainly would not apply.