Is it possible to be impartial anymore?
While there are nine judges expected to be the model of impartiality, a new survey has found a majority of Americans think Supreme Court justices are guided by their own ideology.
The survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 70% of Americans think the court’s justices are “more likely to try to shape the law to fit their own ideologies” rather than be impartial as they are called to be.
On the other side, only 28% think that justices are “more likely” to provide decisions and rulings that are “fair” and “impartial.”
The findings of the survey come as the court continues to face controversy from its more conservative-leaning justices.
In the last few weeks, Democratic lawmakers have called for Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from cases involving former President Donald Trump and the 2020 election after it was reported that he had flown controversial flags connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots at his private residences.
Alito has refused to step back from the cases, instead saying the flags were flown by his wife and that she had every right to do so.
Justice Clarence Thomas has also been thrown into the spotlight for accepting lavish gifts from well-known political donors.
In a letter to Chief Justice Roberts, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and House Democrats asked if Roberts planned on requesting “Justice Alito recuse himself from any cases related to Donald Trump? If not, why not?”
“Adopting a code of ethics and failing to enforce [it] only serves to reinforce the perception that Supreme Court justices operate without consequences for clearly unethical behavior,” the letter said.
So far, no action has been taken against Alito, and the court has yet to rule on Trump’s presidential immunity case that could play a major role in his two federal indictments.
However, when it comes to how Americans think the court will handle Trump’s case, a third said they were “a great deal” or “moderately” confident it would be taken care of properly, the poll found.
The remaining 66% said they had little or no confidence in the court and its decision in the case.
The poll was conducted from June 20-24 and included responses from 1,088 respondents. There is a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.