Supreme Court

Fewer Than Half Of Likely Voters Can Name A Single Supreme Court Justice

This is incredibly depressing.

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SCOTUS QConsidering how important the Supreme Court was made out to be during the election, and despite the fact that people have been up in arms about controversial Supreme Court decisions on health care and same-sex marriage for what seems like ages now, you might be shocked to learn that per a recent C-SPAN survey, only 43 percent of voters can name a single Supreme Court justice. For what it’s worth, this is actually an improvement over results gleaned from a similar survey in 2012, where only 34 percent of respondents were able to were able to name a member of the Supreme Court.

This news comes during Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings. Given that fewer than half of likely voters could name a member of the high court, perhaps even fewer know that these confirmation hearings are going on now, what a confirmation hearing is, or who it is that’s up for confirmation in the first place.

As for the survey results, it isn’t at all shocking that those who were actually able to name a Supreme Court justice remembered Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s name. The woman is a pop culture icon who has been the subject of manicures, tattoos, coloring books, children’s costumes, and even wedding invitations. She waded into controversy after controversy prior to the election, slamming Donald Trump’s potential Supreme Court nominee(s), joking that she’d move to New Zealand if Trump were elected president, and invoking Trump’s ire to the point that he called for her resignation. She even took the time to comment on Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest, calling it “dumb and disrespectful.” Of course people were quick to name Justice Ginsburg. Sixteen percent of those surveyed gave her name. The Hill has the details on the rest of the survey results:

Justice Who?

Justice Who?

Chief Justice John Roberts followed behind, at 12 percent, and Justice Clarence Thomas was named by 10 percent of people surveyed.

The numbers drop off precipitously from there, with just 3 percent naming Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan were named by 1 percent, while no one among the 1,032 likely voters surveyed named Justice Stephen Breyer, who was confirmed more than 20 years ago under President Clinton.

Ninety percent of the same survey respondents “totally agree” that decisions made by the Supreme Court have an impact on their everyday lives. If so many people think that the Supreme Court is that important, shouldn’t they at least commit themselves to learning the names of a justice or two? Is it really so much to ask that likely voters in this country not be so wildly uninformed? Apparently, and that’s incredibly depressing.

According to the C-SPAN survey, 3 out of 4 likely voters supported cameras in the Supreme Court. We know the members of the high court are adamantly opposed to cameras in the courtroom, but perhaps it’s finally time for them to consider a change. As we noted previously, “[o]ur country would be much more educated if there were shows like Keeping Up With the Kourt and The Real Justices of D.C.”

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Supreme Court Survey [CSPAN]
Survey: Only 43 percent can name a Supreme Court justice [The Hill]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. She’d love to hear from you, so feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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