One problem with religion at present is that it is very, very, very unclear 
whether religion is doing any work at all.  Consider the obvious.  The five 
most religious Catholics on the court were appointed by conservative Republican 
presidents.  The three Jews and the least religious Catholic on the court were 
appointed by more liberal Democratic presidents.  To evaluate the role of 
religion, you really would want a Jewish justice appointed by a Republican 
and/or a religious Catholic appointed by a Democrat.  And better yet, we might 
either the Jewish justice appointed by a Republican to toe the conservative 
line on matters that seem not to involve religion (state sovereign immunity?) 
but diverge on religious issues.  Same for the religious Catholic appointed by 
the Democrat.  But right now, what we largely have is five justices appointed 
by Republicans who consistently vote more conservatively than the four justices 
appointed by Democrats.  That the five conservatives may al!
 so be religious Catholics as of now, may have no more bearing on their rulings 
than that they all are right-handed (I'm making this up).


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