(Jewish Group) Jewish representation on the Supreme Court: A history [View all]

Just a few years ago, the Supreme Court was on the verge of becoming nearly half Jewish, with President Barack Obama’s 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland set to increase the number of Jewish justices to four on the nine-person court.

Of course, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to move on Obama’s pick, denying Garland a seat. Garland wound up settling for the consolation prize of attorney general. Now, with the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer following the 2020 death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there will be only one Jewish justice remaining, Elena Kagan.

For much of the 20th century, there was a so-called “Jewish seat” on the court, and if you follow the lineage, Breyer occupied that spot on the bench for nearly three decades. President Bill Clinton nominated him to the court in 1994, a year after naming Ginsburg.

Breyer was “a little surprised” that his Judaism was a non-issue in his confirmation hearings, he told Abigail Pogrebin for her book, “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish.”

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