Nearly two in three US Supreme Court justices favor a term limit or mandatory retirement age, a sharp rise in the percentage of people who say they “barely” trust the court, according to a new survey. reveals.
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows that 67% of Americans support a proposal to set a specific number of years for judges to serve rather than lifetime terms, with 82% Democrats and 57% Republicans. Are included. The views are similar regarding a requirement that judges retire at a certain age.
The survey was conducted just weeks after the High Court issued major rulings that included setting aside constitutional guarantees for abortion and expanding gun rights. The survey also shows that more Americans disapprove of court decisions on abortion, with almost half feeling “angry” or “depressed” about the decision.
The court, now in recess, will return with confidence among Americans to hear cases in October. Now, 43% say they have little faith in the court, up from 27% three months ago. In a recent poll, only 17% responded that they had great faith in the court.
Inez Parker of Curry, North Carolina, is among those who support limiting judges’ years of service.
“I think some of them have been there for a very long time. They don’t have any new ideas. When you reach a certain age you stick to your way of thinking,” said the 84-year-old Democrat .
Parker said retired judges “can work in their yard, sit on the porch and blow the fan or whatever they want to do.”
The Constitution grants federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, to term for life, but there have recently been calls to change this. A committee appointed by President Joe Biden to examine possible changes to the Supreme Court studied the term limit, among other issues.
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1,085 adults were surveyed on July 14–17 using a sample taken from NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel, which was representative of the US population. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
