Almost immediately after announcing he would not seek another term, President Biden pronounced that reforming the Supreme Court was going to be a major priority of his remaining six months in office. While it is highly unlikely any of the reforms will be adopted during the remainder of the Biden presidency, it does underscore the degree to which the direction of Supreme Court will be a major issue in the November election.
Working with Emerson College Polling, 1,000 registered voters were asked about their perceptions of the Supreme Court, opinion on how the Court performs and functions, and related reforms. In addition, we also tried to assess their views about certain recent key Supreme Court decisions and their attitudes toward possible structural changes to the Court.
In this article, we will tackle the voters views of the functioning of the court and potential reforms to address it. To begin with, it is important to frame just how unpopular the Court is with the public. Only 34 percent of respondents give the Supreme Court a positive job approval rating, whereas Biden's job approval is two percentage points above the court's, standing at 36 percent, and Congress receives just an 18 percent thumbs up on job approval.
When asked about the political ideology of the court, 50 percent of those polled viewed the Court as conservative, 34 percent viewed it as moderate, strikingly, and 16 percent believed it be liberal. Interestingly, men find the court more conservative than women, 53 percent to 49 percent. Independents believe the court is more moderate at 41 percent, compared to Democrats, 28 percent and Republicans, 35 percent.
Adding to the political perception of the court is that only 31 percent feel that the court generally acts in a fair and nonpartisan way, whereas 54 percent believe that the justices reflect the politics of the president who appointed them.
When it comes to the other branches of government, voters were asked if they think the Supreme Court is more important as a check on the power of the president or a check on the power of Congress, or both. A majority, 62 percent, think the court is an important check on both, 23 percent said the president, and 15 percent said Congress. However, 50 percent think the court has too much power, 43 percent think it has the right amount of power, and just 6 percent think it has too little power.
Only 47 percent disagreed with the recent decision on presidential immunity, which puts official presidential actions beyond the power of the courts. On this issue, the starkest difference was in gender: men were split with 44 percent agreeing and 42 percent disagreeing with that decision. Only 27 percent of women approved of the decision, while 51percent did not.
This may suggest that Biden, or any future president, would have a long way to go to get the kind of national consensus on this issue necessary to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court immunity decision.
Reconciling those views of the role of the court as it relates to the presidency requires looking at the breakdown by political party. Not unexpectedly, 69 percent of Democrats disagreed with the ruling, but only 52 percent of Republicans agreed with it, leaving the remainder of Republicans evenly split at 24 percent disagreeing and 24 percent unsure or had no opinion.
When it comes to key reforms, however, there is more consensus than the nation's highly polarized politics would suggest. Seventy-one percent of voters believe Supreme Court justices should be held to the same ethical standards as all other federal judges. Biden has proposed legislation that does just that. Only 13 percent opposed such ethics reforms.
In addition, of those respondents who had a view on the spouses of justices speaking out publicly on political issues, twice as many were opposed (40 percent) compared to those who supported it (21 percent). This has been a particularly newsworthy issue with respect to the wives of conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
There is further evidence that when it comes to Supreme Court reform the country is also not as polarized as it is politically. Beyond ethics and family conduct, almost three quarters of Democrats, and almost half of all Republicans, support some form of term limits for Supreme Court justices.
Term limits are supported by 72 percent of Democrats, 54 percent of Independents, and even 46 percent of Republicans. A majority of men and women across all age brackets support this proposal.
Biden's reform proposals include this element, which is intended, in part, to make sure there is some equality in the number of Supreme Court appointees each president can make. There is controversy as to whether this reform can be accomplished legislatively, as Biden has proposed, or if it would require a constitutional amendment.
When asked if the current lifetime appointment for a justice should be changed by creating an age limit, a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents supported it. A plurality, 48 percent, believe justices should retire sometime between the ages of 70 and 79.
While Biden's call for reforms to the Supreme Court have been met with sharp negative reaction on Capitol Hill, there is more bipartisan agreement about the need for reform among voters. Of course, these reform issues are not ones voters generally feel passionate about. Supreme Court decisions in recent years on social issues still have people's attention.
Next, we will explore how views of reform break down when those issues are put to voters.
Tom Rogers is executive chairman of Oorbit Gaming and Entertainment, an editor-at-large for Newsweek, the founder of CNBC and a CNBC contributor. He also established MSNBC, is the former CEO of TiVo, a member of Keep Our Republic (an organization dedicated to preserving the nation's democracy). He is also a member of the American Bar Association Task Force on Democracy.
Susan Del Percio is a Republican strategist and crisis communications consultant with over 30 years of experience in the political, government, nonprofit, and private sector arenas. She is also a political analyst for MSNBC/NBC News.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
