 Frankfurter was followed by Arthur Goldberg and Abe Fortas , each of whom filled what became known as the " Jewish Seat " . After Fortas resigned in 1969 , he was replaced by Protestant Harry Blackmun . No Jewish justices were nominated thereafter until Ronald Reagan nominated Douglas H. Ginsburg in 1987 , to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Lewis F. Powell ; however , this nomination was withdrawn , and the Court remained without any Jewish justices until 1993 , when Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( unrelated to Douglas Ginsburg ) was appointed to replace Byron White . Ginsburg was followed in relatively quick succession by the appointment of Stephen Breyer , also Jewish , in 1994 to replace Harry Blackmun . In 2010 , the confirmation of President Barack Obama 's nomination of Elena Kagan to the Court ensured that three Jewish justices would serve simultaneously . Prior to this confirmation , conservative political commentator Pat Buchanan stated that , " 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 " . At the time of his remarks , 6 @.@ 4 percent of justices had been Jewish in the history of the court . On March 16 , 2016 , President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia . 
