The Senate has approved the nomination of U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 50, to the Supreme Court. With Kagan, it’ll be the first time the court has three female justices, three Jewish justices, and no Protestants.

Catholic News Agency reports that Kagan’s confirmation is “deeply troubling” to pro-life leaders. The story doesn’t note that six of the nine justices are still Catholic, however, and that Kagan, a Conservative Jew, is replacing John Paul Stevens, a liberal Protestant. In other words, all signs point to the status quo being maintained re: Roe v. Wade. (Or am I missing something?)

While most Jewish groups have cheered Kagan on, especially when she revealed her witty side during the confirmation hearings, one of my old newspapers, The Journal News, did report a protest in New York from the Orthodox group Torah Jews for Decency, due to her tolerant stance on gays in the military.

Kagan’s confirmation concludes a busy religion news week for America’s courts, with the lawsuit to stop New York’s “Ground Zero mosque” and the overturned Prop. 8 gay marriage ban (and pending appeal) in California working their way up the judicial ladder. (Mexico’s Supreme Court has also just ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, by the way.) It will be interesting to see what happens if/when they get to this Supreme Court.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.

*Click here to subscribe to Belief Beat and click here to follow Belief Beat on Twitter.