By Tara Suter - 06/27/24

Most Americans in a new survey said they believe Supreme Court justices are more likely to be led by ideology instead of impartiality.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found 70 percent of respondents said they believe the high court justices are currently “more likely to try to shape the law to fit their own ideologies.” Only 28 percent said the justices are “more likely” to provide independent checks on the other branches of government in a “fair” or “impartial” way.

The court has been recently ruled on several hot-button issues, including online misinformation and gun rights. Several justices have also faced scrutiny and calls to adopt an official ethics code over the acceptance of lavish gifts and other issues,including reports about controversial flags being flown at Justice Samuel Alito’s residences that have been linked to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Democrats took aim at Alito over the controversy, with Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) calling one of the flag incidents “just terrible.”

“His responsibility as a Supreme Court justice is to be able to make decisions without fear or favor, with no favoritism. And yet he’s flying flags that clearly are signaling to somebody that he thinks the election was stolen. He should immediately recuse himself,” she said. “We have to look at this.”

When it comes to key issues facing the country, such as abortion and gun policy, the respondents also showed a lack of faith in the Supreme Court. Only 32 percent said they had “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” of confidence in the high court’s handling of the issues they deemed most important.

The court is also preparing to weigh in on presidential immunity as the term nears its end. At the heart of the challenge is former President Trump and his federal charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results — and whether executive privilege shields him from being prosecuted.

Roughly 33 percent of survey respondents said they were “a great deal” or “moderately” confident that the Supreme Court could handle the case properly. About 66 percent said they had little or no confidence at all in the high court when it came to handling the immunity question.

The AP-NORC poll was conducted June 20-24, featuring 1,088 respondents and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.