After enjoying a summer break full of gallivanting and grievance-airing, the Supreme Court justices are back at work. This is broadly considered to be a bummer: According to new polling conducted by Marquette Law School, a clear majority of Americans—57 percent—don’t think the justices are doing their forever-jobs very well.
The Court’s unpopularity is even more pronounced when disaggregated by political party identification: 67 percent of independents and 76 percent of Democrats registered their disapproval. The only group pleased by the Supreme Court’s actions are Republicans, 66 percent of whom voiced their satisfaction.
When the numbers are in and they are NOT encouraging (Photo by Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images)
In nontrivial part, the embarrassing ratings reflect lingering rage over Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 decision in which the conservative majority overruled Roe v. Wade and rescinded the constitutional right to abortion. Nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Dobbs, including a solid majority of independents (61 percent) and an overwhelming majority of Democrats (87 percent). Turns out people don’t like when unaccountable ideologues conscript them or their loved ones into reproductive servitude.
Still, the Supreme Court has one thing going for it. Sure, a mere 28 percent of Americans have a “great deal” or “a lot” of confidence in the highest court in the land, but that’s more than twice as much as the 12 percent of Americans who feel the same about Congress. So if the justices ever feel some degree of shame about the plummeting favorability numbers their cruelty and corruption have wrought, they can look across the street and remember that things could always be worse!
