 The first Catholic justice , Roger B. Taney , was appointed chief justice in 1836 by Andrew Jackson . The second , Edward Douglass White , was appointed as an associate justice in 1894 , but also went on to become chief justice . Joseph McKenna was appointed in 1898 , placing two Catholics on the Court until White 's death in 1921 . This period marked the beginning of an inconsistently observed " tradition " of having a " Catholic seat " on the court . 
