In the old days, an unwritten understanding, honored by presidents of both political parties, had it that certain groups—Jews, Catholics, Southerners—got a “seat” on the Supreme Court. For many years, Felix Frankfurter occupied “the Jewish seat,” William J. Brennan “the Catholic seat,” Hugo Black “the Southern seat.” Later an African-American seat was added. Thurgood Marshall, who was nominated by Lyndon B. Johnson, held it until his retirement, when he was replaced by Clarence Thomas, a George H. W. Bush nominee.
There's not much need these days for special “Jewish” and “Catholic” seats. Of the nine Supreme Court Justices currently sitting, three are Jewish and six are baptized Catholics. The most glaring absence is that of a Protestant in what is still a Protestant-majority country, though the Catholic Neil Gorsuch attends an Episcopal Church with his wife, who is British and a member of the Church of England.
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