Aug. 8 (UPI) – Public opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court continues to deteriorate. A recent poll found that more than half of respondents expressed an unfavorable opinion of the Supreme Court, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
The popularity of the dish has fallen to an all-time low.
Recent, high-profile Supreme Court rulings on issues such as presidential immunity, government regulation of businesses, abortion, and more have sparked interest. While support for the Supreme Court is low, the numbers are largely unchanged from last year.
“Less than half of Americans (47%) currently express a favorable opinion of the court, while about half (51%) have an unfavorable opinion,” the Pew report said.
Only a quarter of Democrats say they have a positive opinion of the Supreme Court, a number that has dropped sharply since 2021, when more than two-thirds had a positive impression. That was before the court’s ruling in the so-called “Dobbs case,” which effectively struck down federal abortion rights.
Sixty-three percent of Americans say they support abortion rights, a slight increase from last year, according to the Pew poll.
Nearly half of Americans consider the Supreme Court to be conservative, 42 percent see it as “centrist,” and 7 percent describe it as liberal.
“Public perceptions of the Supreme Court’s ideology have not changed much over the past year. However, since 2020, the share of Americans who describe the court as conservative has increased by 18 points,” Pew said. “This year, 56% said the court was moderate, while 30% viewed the court as conservative and 12% as liberal.”
Recent rulings by the justices have brought their question into focus, including a ruling granting the president largely unchallenged immunity, known as the “King’s Act.” Democrats responded to counter the measure.
Justice Sonya Sotomayor opposed granting a president such broad immunity.
“In every exercise of his official power, the president today is a king above the law,” she told the media.
Judge Clarence Thomas’s private business and personal affairs also continue to raise questions.
Thomas continues to conceal international travel paid for by a wealthy Republican donor, a leading Democratic senator said as he revealed a previously secret trip the Supreme Court justice and his wife took more than a decade ago aboard conservative billionaire Harlan Crow’s private jet.
Citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection records, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said in a letter Monday that Thomas and his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, took a round-trip flight from Hawaii to New Zealand aboard Crow’s private jet in November 2010.
The letter was addressed to Crow’s lawyers and demanded that they release their client’s financial and travel records to determine whether Thomas’s personal travel was used to evade taxes.
“I am deeply concerned that Mr. Crow may have lavished an official with extravagant gifts and then written off those gifts to reduce his tax burden,” Wyden said.
