End Citizens United / Let America Vote released a new poll yesterday gauging voters’ opinions on the Supreme Court. The poll found that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of implementing ethics and transparency reforms in the Supreme Court.
Click here to read the memo.
The American Independent: Poll shows support for independent investigations into ethics of Supreme Court justices
Josh Israel
May 01, 2023
Key Points:
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The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform on Tuesday in the wake of revelations that suggest three conservative justices failed to properly disclose income and gifts they had received. A new poll, shared exclusively with the American Independent Foundation, finds strong support for reform.
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The survey, conducted April 18 and 19 by Public Policy Polling for the progressive political group End Citizens United // Let America Vote, found that two-thirds of American voters say they do not trust or have confidence in the Supreme Court.
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A memo on the survey said 64% of those polled “believed that the Supreme Court made decisions based on the influence of special interests and their own political ideology rather than on a fair and impartial interpretation of the law.”
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According to the memo, 80% of respondents “said they would support requiring organizations that spend money to influence judicial decisions to disclose their largest donors”; 67% “believe a public code of ethics and a method for investigating violations would restore trust in the Supreme Court”; and 53% “believe that an independent ethics commission should investigate ethics violations, rather than Congress or the Supreme Court itself.” They agreed 74%-15% that “at least some of a justice’s decisions should be reviewed and possibly overturned if that justice committed an ethics violation.”
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End Citizens United // Let America Vote President Tiffany Muller told the American Independent Foundation in an email on Monday that the poll showed the public agrees:
The scandals plaguing the Supreme Court reaffirm Americans’ worst suspicions about the lack of ethics and integrity in the institution. They know that the Court is captured by shadowy dark money groups and billionaires. These results clearly indicate that Americans want more transparency into the Justices’ outside activities to identify any potential conflicts of interests, and accountability when they run afoul of the law. Congress should heed these warnings and implement a code of ethics to restore faith and trust in one of the most important institutions of our democracy.
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