Ahead of the Senate Judiciary hearings, End Citizens United (ECU) // Let America Vote (LAV) commissioned a new poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling, to gauge 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.
“The scandals plaguing the Supreme Court reaffirm Ameircans’ 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,” said ECU // LAV President Tiffany Muller. “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.”
Key findings:
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A majority of voters don’t have trust or confidence in the Supreme Court.
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67% of voters believe a code of ethics and a method for investigating violations would restore trust in the institution.
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64% of voters 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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80% of voters are in favor of requiring organizations that spend money to influence judicial decisions to disclose their largest donors.
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74% of voters feel that there should be strong repercussions for Justice Clarence Thomas’ ethical violations, and believe he should face some sort of penalty.
Click here to read the memo.
Public Policy Polling surveyed 630 voters nationally on April 18 and 19 with a margin of error of +/-3.9%. The interviews were conducted by phone and text.
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