U.S. Supreme Court justices are expected to attend D.C. events featuring Pope Francis this week, including a Mass he will celebrate Wednesday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and Thursday’s address to a joint session of Congress.
Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg confirmed that Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony Kennedy and Sonia Sotomayor will attend the Mass on Wednesday afternoon. She noted that participation is the justices’ individual choice, as with comparable events such as the annual State of the Union address and the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.
Six of the nine justices are Catholic: Roberts and associate justices Kennedy, Sotomayor, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Jr. But not all six are expected to attend, and it is possible that some other justices might go, as well. Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, both Jewish, have gone to the annual Red Mass, which gives the Catholic Church’s blessing to the court and other government institutions.
