Ford nominated John Paul Stevens. He is a Protestant. Republicans thought he was conservative. He ended up being a knee-jerk liberal when on the Supreme Court. He resigned so that Obama could appoint someone more liberal.
Bush nominated David Souter who is a Protestant. Bush chose him over Clarence Thomas who is Catholic. Souter became a doctrinaire liberal when on the Supreme Court. He resigned during his term.
Bush nominated Harriette Myers who is a Protestant. The Senate would not confirm her and she was quickly withdrawn.
One of the great tragedies of the Supreme Court was the organized campaign by the Democrats against Robert Bork who is a Catholic. Bork was an intellectual and a principled conservative. Democrats were afraid of his intelligence and his integrity and used a vicious smear campaign and repeated lies to deny him the nomination.
It is not about religion. It is about principle, intellectual ability and moral courage. The people who have exhibited these qualities the best have been the Catholics on the court: Alito, Scalia and Thomas.
David Souter was a closet democrat and it was George HW Bush’s fault that he was selected for the court and turned into a disaster for conservatives. Bush even admitted he knew nothing of Souter’s judicial temperament when he nominated him. He didn’t know if he was for abortion or against it, for affirmative action or against it. Old man Bush had a brain lock on this appointment. Harriet Mairs was a joke. Bush’s brain Karl Rove must have been in a coma when she was nominated by Bush. NO ONE wanted her. She was 100% unqualified for the court. Roberts was also a wild-card, having been a Federal judge for about 3 years when Bush nominated him. Bush not only nominated him for the court but made him Chief Justice, bypassing all the other more qualified conservatives that sit on the court. Scalia would have been my pick. Roberts will turn out to be another David Souter/Anthony Kennedy, siding with liberals on the court for years to come.
Souter was almost certainly no surprise to those who picked him. While the bases of both parties have certain values, the upper tiers do as well. The base of the GOP supports it for the sake of Christianity and capitalsim, but the upper levels are far more about capitalism, including power and greed. I support capitalism, too, but also see the corruption in everything of this world. And so, for example, the same large corporations supported by Christiann conservatives also have been instrumental in pushing for “gay marriage,” and Fox News tends to promote Christian values while Fox entertainment attacks it. The leadership in both parties has their own agendas, and that of the GOP would overall prefer it to be morally moderate, and will connive and push for it as much as the base allows it to. And one way they’ve tried to do that is with moving the SC to the left on moral issues. There are a lot of ways to do that, and they have, including by choosing Catholics. Eventually they’ll just try leaving Christianity.