Marquette poll: people trust court over executive, legislative branches

The Brillion News

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette University Law School (MULS) poll conducted a survey on the public's feelings about the U.S. Supreme Court and its justices between September 8 and 15.

Then, on September 16, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lost her battle against cancer and perished.

The poll suddenly became more interesting with President Donald Trump poised to nominate a new justice in the final months of his current term in office.

The MULS poll shows that the Supreme Court has a good reputation among the people.

In fact, 66 percent of the poll respondents said they approve of the way the high court does its job.

Fifty-nine percent trust the Supreme Court, but only 24 percent trust the president and only 16 percent trust Congress.

Over half of the respondents - Republicans, Democrats and independents - trust the high court. Virtually identical percentages of Democrats and Republicans (60-61 percent) think the Supreme Court decides cases based on law rather than politics.

Thirty-nine percent of both Republicans and Democrats felt justices decided cases based on politics.

The poll found that 48 percent of the respondents feel the choice of the next justice to be very important.

The survey found that 54 percent of folks consider the court "moderate", while 35 percent consider it conservative and 11 percent see it as liberal.

Ginsburg was also the mostly widely known of the justices.

The survey showed that 51 percent of respondents think nomiees to the Supreme Court should be required to say how they'd rule on controversial issues - something judicial ethics prohibit.