New Polls Says Public Approval of Supreme Court Has Declined

As public approval of institutions like Congress and the Presidency have plummeted, the public's view of the Supreme Court remained high. A new poll indicates that the public's esteem for the Supreme Court is slipping too. The poll says only 44 percent of Americans approve the court's work (compared to the high 60s in the late 1980s), with 75 percent saying that the Justices' are influenced by their personal politics. 60% disagree with the constitution's requirement that a justice serve for life (absent impeachment). (The constitution, I should add, does not necessarily demand life appointment as a Supreme Court justice. It's possible that the constitutional requirement would be met if Justices served for a term of years, so long as they were permitted to serve elsewhere in the federal judiciary after their terms expired.)