Skip to main content

Religion and the U.S. Supreme Court

John Roberts, Jr. — Roman Catholic (R.C.) — Nominated by George W. Bush
John Paul Stevens — Protestant — Nomiated by Gerald Ford
Antonin Scalia — R.C. — Nominated by Ronald Reagan
Anthony Kennedy — R.C. — Nominated by Ronald Reagan
Clarence Thomas — R.C. — Nominated by George H. W. Bush
Ruth bader Ginsburg — Jewish — Nominated by Bill Clinton
Stephen Breyer — Jewish — Nominated by Bill Clinton
Samuel Alito — R.C. — Nominated by George W. Bush
Sonia Sotomayor — R.C. — Nominated by Barack Obama

Elena Kagan — Jewish — Nominated by Barack Obama

Sandra Day O'Connor — Episcopalian — Nominated by Ronald Reagan
David Souter — Episcopalian — Nominated by George H. W. Bush


May be, President Obama will get to nominate four justices in the course of his two terms as president.

On the religious front, well, sad to see no Muslims, no atheists, no Hindus, no Buddhists, etc. ...

But if really religion and government are to be kept completely separate, then should not the judges be free from any and all religious biases? In which case, all judges should be atheists ...

May be, that will become a reality in 200 years from now ... but, really, it makes no sense for someone to say that their 'religious beliefs' are 'personal' matters and has no bearing whatsoever on their public decision-making. If a person claims to belong to a religion at all, then that person's decision-making is inextricably co-mingled with or irrevocably corrupted by that religion.

One can't pick and choose.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Longforms and 'Best of 2017' Lists and Favorite Books by Ashutosh Joglekar and Scott Aaronson

Ashutosh Joglekar's books list. http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2018/03/30-favorite-books.html Scott Aaronson' list https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=3679 https://www.wired.com/story/most-read-wired-magazine-stories-2017/ https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/12/the-best-books-we-read-in-2017/548912/ https://longreads.com/2017/12/21/longreads-best-of-2017-essays/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/21/world/asia/how-the-rohingya-escaped.html https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-journalists-covered-rise-mussolini-hitler-180961407/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/artificial-intelligence-future-scenarios-180968403/ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/01/20/citizen-kay https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/where-we-are-hunt-cancer-vaccine-180968391/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/dna-based-attack-against-cancer-may-work-180968407/ https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/22/dona...

Why Do We Have A Name?

Humans across religious, cultural and national differences all have names. At least all modern humans have this. I wonder if the lost tribes in the Amazon jungle or the tribes who live in the Nicobar Islands cut off from civilization since the last many thousands of years have a similar naming convention as the rest of us humans do. And we humans often choose to have system of naming that consists of a first name and a last name. the last name often indicates a person’s or a family’s occupation and remains the same from generation to generation. All the offspring of one family get the same last name as the parents — usually the last name of the father. In some cultures, the first names can be the same as that of the father too. In some cultures, the name of the village, and other names too get added to the child’s name and it grows rather long. But consider for a moment how it all would have started and taken hold among humans in deep antiquity. Humans would have acquired...

Ayn Rand Was Right

Do we exalt the John Galts and Howard Roarks among us or despise them? Do we admire the ultimate, self-centered and selfish capitalists or the selfless, self-sacrificing altruists? Oh sure there are the Martin Luther King, Jr.s and Mahatma Gandhis and Nelson Mandelas and Aung Sun Suu Kyis we like to point to as icons and worthy role models for our children. But look deeply and we find that we are obsessed with the wealthy. And who are the wealthy? Why do we let the Robert Rubins, Sandy Weills, Jakc Welchs, Jamie Dimons and their Wall St. brethren keep their millions? Because we consider that right and their right. Let alone the hedge fund people whose entire purpose is to become billionaires. How many people explicitly make life choices that will lead to a life of service -> not be a charlatan like Mother Teresa but just helping the underprivileged without trying to 'achieve' greatness by so doing. So Lance Armstrong and Greg Mortensen and the Evangelical Christ...