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Pat Buchanan, everyone's favorite MSNBC pundit, wondered in his syndicated column this week why Democratic presidents don't nominate white Christians to the Supreme Court anymore.
"If Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats," Buchanan wrote. "Is this the Democrats' idea of diversity?"
Buchanan was responding to a Washington Post story about black leaders expressing disappointment over solicitor general Elena Kagan's record at Harvard Law, where the faculty members she hired were mostly white.
"But while leaders in the black community may be upset, the folks who look more like the real targets of liberal bias are white Protestants and Catholics, who still constitute well over half of the U.S. population," he wrote. "Not in living memory has a Democratic president nominated an Irish, Italian or Polish Catholic, though these ethnic communities once gave the party its greatest victories in the cities and states of the North."
"What happened to the party of the Daleys, Rizzos and Rostenkowskis?"
Retiring Justice John Paul Stevens is the only Protestant on the court, leaving six Catholic and two Jewish justices. Kagan is also Jewish.
Buchanan also had some interesting things to say this week about the link between Kagan's sports preference and her sexual orientation.
(H/T Media Matters)
Late update: Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), who is Jewish, has a problem with Buchanan's comments. From a press release:
"It is outrageous that Mr. Buchanan is using Elena Kagan's religion as kindling to enflame opposition to her nomination to the Supreme Court," stated Lautenberg. "Elena Kagan was chosen by President Obama because of her ability and knowledge, and Mr. Buchanan's comments undermine her significant legal achievements. It sounds like Mr. Buchanan longs for the days when religious quotas kept people out of high-ranking positions in government." (Rachel Slajda, 5.14.2010) http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/pat-buchanan-there-are-too-many-jews-on-the-supreme-court.php?ref=fpb