About two-thirds of Americans support imposing term limits on Supreme Court justices, but only 3 in 10 back expanding the size of the court — a proposal advanced by congressional Democrats and court transparency advocates as a way to dilute the power of the high court’s current 6-3 conservative supermajority.
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The Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey also found that 69 percent of Americans believe there should be a mandatory retirement age for the justices.
President Joe Biden called this summer for 18-year term limits for the justices, with future presidents able to nominate a justice every two years. He also backed legislation that would create an enforceable ethics code for the justices, who published their own code last year but did not include a way to investigate potential violations or mete out sanctions.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, has endorsed Biden’s proposals, which came in response to ethics scandals involving some of the justices and several rulings that overturned long-standing precedents.
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GOP nominee Donald Trump and other Republicans dismiss the ideas as efforts to thwart the court’s right-leaning majority, which Trump cemented with the appointment of three staunchly conservative justices. That majority has overturned Roe v. Wade, ended affirmative action in college admissions, greatly expanded presidential immunity for official acts and weakened the regulatory power of federal agencies.
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Nearly half of Americans support allowing the public to vote to overturn Supreme Court decisions on controversial issues, according to the survey. Nearly 8 in 10 support the creation of an enforceable ethics code for the high court, and 82 percent say Supreme Court justices should be barred from participating in cases in which they have “personal or financial interests.”
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Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. announced last fall that the court had agreed to follow an ethics code specific to the nine justices. But the ethics code does not include an enforcement mechanism or any outside oversight of the justices’ individual decisions about whether to recuse themselves from certain cases because of perceived or potential conflicts of interest.
The court adopted its code after news reports revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted, but did not disclose on his financial reports, years of luxury gifts and trips from Dallas billionaire and Republican donor Harlan Crow, as well as real estate deals and other financial transactions. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. faced similar criticism for not reporting a 2008 luxury fishing trip arranged by conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo, with private jet travel provided by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer.
Both Alito and Thomas have said disclosure rules at the time did not require reporting private jet travel or luxury accommodations provided by friends.
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Confidence in the Supreme Court plunged 22 percentage points — from 68 percent to 46 percent — between 2019 and 2022, according to the Annenberg survey. And 7 out of 10 Americans believe the justices are guided by their ideology and do not rule impartially, according to a June poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.
The Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey also found that 69 percent of Americans believe there should be a mandatory retirement age for the justices.
President Joe Biden called this summer for 18-year term limits for the justices, with future presidents able to nominate a justice every two years. He also backed legislation that would create an enforceable ethics code for the justices, who published their own code last year but did not include a way to investigate potential violations or mete out sanctions.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, has endorsed Biden’s proposals, which came in response to ethics scandals involving some of the justices and several rulings that overturned long-standing precedents.
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Supreme Court 2024 major cases
We break down the Supreme Court’s major decisions of 2024 and why they matter.End of carousel
GOP nominee Donald Trump and other Republicans dismiss the ideas as efforts to thwart the court’s right-leaning majority, which Trump cemented with the appointment of three staunchly conservative justices. That majority has overturned Roe v. Wade, ended affirmative action in college admissions, greatly expanded presidential immunity for official acts and weakened the regulatory power of federal agencies.
🏛️
Follow Politics
Nearly half of Americans support allowing the public to vote to overturn Supreme Court decisions on controversial issues, according to the survey. Nearly 8 in 10 support the creation of an enforceable ethics code for the high court, and 82 percent say Supreme Court justices should be barred from participating in cases in which they have “personal or financial interests.”
Advertisement
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. announced last fall that the court had agreed to follow an ethics code specific to the nine justices. But the ethics code does not include an enforcement mechanism or any outside oversight of the justices’ individual decisions about whether to recuse themselves from certain cases because of perceived or potential conflicts of interest.
The court adopted its code after news reports revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted, but did not disclose on his financial reports, years of luxury gifts and trips from Dallas billionaire and Republican donor Harlan Crow, as well as real estate deals and other financial transactions. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. faced similar criticism for not reporting a 2008 luxury fishing trip arranged by conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo, with private jet travel provided by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer.
Both Alito and Thomas have said disclosure rules at the time did not require reporting private jet travel or luxury accommodations provided by friends.
Advertisement
Confidence in the Supreme Court plunged 22 percentage points — from 68 percent to 46 percent — between 2019 and 2022, according to the Annenberg survey. And 7 out of 10 Americans believe the justices are guided by their ideology and do not rule impartially, according to a June poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
