Should Judge John G. Roberts be confirmed as the chief justice of the United States, he would become the third Catholic to hold that post.

Two days after the Sept. 3 death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, President George W. Bush announced that he was nominating Roberts, 50, to become the new chief. In July Bush had nominated Roberts to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. His decision to make Roberts his nominee for chief justice means there remains a vacancy for an associate justice.

The first Catholic on the Supreme Court was also the first Catholic chief justice. Justice Roger B. Taney served as chief from 1836 until 1864. Taney, the son of a Maryland plantation owner and slaveholder, was named to the court to fill the vacancy for chief justice.

The only other Catholic to have been chief justice, Edward Douglas White, was elevated to the position in 1910 after 16 years on the court as an associate justice.

Roberts would be the 10th Catholic on the court since it first assembled in 1790. He also would be the fourth Catholic among its current members, joining Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas, the most at one time. Until Kennedy joined Scalia on the court in 1988, there had only been one Catholic on the court at a time.

The nomination of Roberts to be chief justice in some ways echoes the situation when Rehnquist joined the court, when there also were two vacancies. The late Justice Lewis Powell was sworn in as an associate the same day as Rehnquist in January 1972. Rehnquist was elevated to chief justice in 1986.

The last justice to join the court as chief was Warren Burger in 1969, Rehnquist's immediate predecessor as head of the nation's highest court.

As of Sept. 6 it was unclear whether both O'Connor's and Rehnquist's seats could be filled by the time the court reconvenes Oct. 3. When she announced her retirement, O'Connor said she would continue to work until her replacement was sworn in. So, depending on how quickly another nominee is confirmed, she might still be on the job for the first cases of the term.

Senate Judiciary Committee staffers said it takes about six weeks from the time a nominee is named to gather background material and hold confirmation hearings.

---CNS