{"id":155790,"date":"2026-07-02T17:04:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T01:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/02\/new-poll-shows-americans-even-republicans-think-the-supreme-court-needs-to-be-reined-in\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T17:04:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T01:04:43","slug":"new-poll-shows-americans-even-republicans-think-the-supreme-court-needs-to-be-reined-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/02\/new-poll-shows-americans-even-republicans-think-the-supreme-court-needs-to-be-reined-in\/","title":{"rendered":"New Poll Shows Americans \u2014 Even Republicans \u2014 Think The Supreme Court Needs To Be Reined In"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new poll<\/a> from Verasight dropped this week, and its findings should be a wake-up call for everyone currently pretending the Supreme Court\u2019s legitimacy crisis is a partisan fever dream. Short version: it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been tracking the Court\u2019s legitimacy crisis for years now<\/a>, and the numbers keep getting grimmer. Registered voters with \u201ca great deal\u201d or \u201cquite a bit\u201d of faith in the Supreme Court is down to a combined 22 percent<\/a>. There are chronic diseases that poll better. The Verasight survey adds some new texture to that picture\u2026 and it is not flattering to the Court.<\/p>\n

The data shows that 64% of Democrats and 47% of Republicans agree the United States needs stronger mechanisms for controlling the Court\u2019s actions given its entanglement with partisan politics. Nearly half of Republicans! On a topic where the two parties currently agree on roughly nothing, you\u2019ve got a near-majority of the president\u2019s own voters saying the Court needs guardrails.<\/p>\n

The Court being seen as a political institution is, of course, not news. As Justice Kagan put it in a 2022 speech<\/a>, judges create legitimacy problems for themselves \u201cwhen they stray into places where it looks like they\u2019re an extension of the political process.\u201d The Verasight poll suggests the public has absorbed that lesson more thoroughly than the Court itself has. We pointed out back in 2024 when polling showed 83% of respondents saying partisanship plays a role in the Court\u2019s decisions<\/a> at least some of the time. <\/p>\n

Only 31% of Republicans \u2014 and a mere 7% of Democrats \u2014 told Verasight they believe the Court is \u201cjust fine the way it is.\u201d So we have an institution beloved by roughly three in 10 members of the party that appointed its current supermajority, and barely one in 14 members of the opposing party. This is what institutional collapse looks like in survey form. We noted<\/a> just last year that 67% of Republicans and only 26% of Democrats had a favorable view of the Court, and even those numbers showed a deeply troubled institution. Since then, the bottom has continued to fall out.<\/p>\n

None of this is happening in a vacuum. A separate Strength In Numbers\/Verasight poll earlier this year<\/a> found 65% of Americans support 18-year term limits for the justices, including 61% of independents and 56% of Republicans. ATL\u2019s own Joe Patrice has been making the case for term limits for years, and his most recent entry in that argument<\/a> lays out why they represent the least dangerous and most necessary reform on offer. His core argument is that life tenure may have been a shield to insulate the Supreme Court from politics, but it\u2019s a sword now and it\u2019s destroying the Court\u2019s legitimacy. And the momentum for reform is ramping up: Joe has noted that the forces arrayed against reform are getting nervous<\/a>, a signal that something real is happening.<\/p>\n

Listen, Americans \u2014 including a substantial number of Republicans \u2014 see a Court that has become a political institution, they don\u2019t think that\u2019s acceptable, and they want something done about it. The Verasight poll adds to an already voluminous record, one that Joe has been charting since before it was fashionable<\/a>, that reform isn\u2019t a fringe demand. It\u2019s the obvious response to an obvious problem.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> After Years Of \u2018Hold My Beer\u2019 Moments, Supreme Court Confidence Hits New Low<\/a>
Donald Trump Wants Everyone (But Him) To Respect The Supreme Court\u2019s Legitimacy<\/a>
Americans Know The Truth About The Supreme Court<\/a>
Fox News Shows Just How Badly Americans Dislike The Supreme Court<\/a>
Of Course The Supreme Court\u2019s Approval Is In The Tank<\/a>
The Supreme Court\u2019s Sinking Popularity<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post New Poll Shows Americans \u2014 Even Republicans \u2014 Think The Supreme Court Needs To Be Reined In<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photographer: Samuel Corum\/Bloomberg)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new poll<\/a> from Verasight dropped this week, and its findings should be a wake-up call for everyone currently pretending the Supreme Court\u2019s legitimacy crisis is a partisan fever dream. Short version: it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been tracking the Court\u2019s legitimacy crisis for years now<\/a>, and the numbers keep getting grimmer. Registered voters with \u201ca great deal\u201d or \u201cquite a bit\u201d of faith in the Supreme Court is down to a combined 22 percent<\/a>. There are chronic diseases that poll better. The Verasight survey adds some new texture to that picture\u2026 and it is not flattering to the Court.<\/p>\n

The data shows that 64% of Democrats and 47% of Republicans agree the United States needs stronger mechanisms for controlling the Court\u2019s actions given its entanglement with partisan politics. Nearly half of Republicans! On a topic where the two parties currently agree on roughly nothing, you\u2019ve got a near-majority of the president\u2019s own voters saying the Court needs guardrails.<\/p>\n

The Court being seen as a political institution is, of course, not news. As Justice Kagan put it in a 2022 speech<\/a>, judges create legitimacy problems for themselves \u201cwhen they stray into places where it looks like they\u2019re an extension of the political process.\u201d The Verasight poll suggests the public has absorbed that lesson more thoroughly than the Court itself has. We pointed out back in 2024 when polling showed 83% of respondents saying partisanship plays a role in the Court\u2019s decisions<\/a> at least some of the time. <\/p>\n

Only 31% of Republicans \u2014 and a mere 7% of Democrats \u2014 told Verasight they believe the Court is \u201cjust fine the way it is.\u201d So we have an institution beloved by roughly three in 10 members of the party that appointed its current supermajority, and barely one in 14 members of the opposing party. This is what institutional collapse looks like in survey form. We noted<\/a> just last year that 67% of Republicans and only 26% of Democrats had a favorable view of the Court, and even those numbers showed a deeply troubled institution. Since then, the bottom has continued to fall out.<\/p>\n

None of this is happening in a vacuum. A separate Strength In Numbers\/Verasight poll earlier this year<\/a> found 65% of Americans support 18-year term limits for the justices, including 61% of independents and 56% of Republicans. ATL\u2019s own Joe Patrice has been making the case for term limits for years, and his most recent entry in that argument<\/a> lays out why they represent the least dangerous and most necessary reform on offer. His core argument is that life tenure may have been a shield to insulate the Supreme Court from politics, but it\u2019s a sword now and it\u2019s destroying the Court\u2019s legitimacy. And the momentum for reform is ramping up: Joe has noted that the forces arrayed against reform are getting nervous<\/a>, a signal that something real is happening.<\/p>\n

Listen, Americans \u2014 including a substantial number of Republicans \u2014 see a Court that has become a political institution, they don\u2019t think that\u2019s acceptable, and they want something done about it. The Verasight poll adds to an already voluminous record, one that Joe has been charting since before it was fashionable<\/a>, that reform isn\u2019t a fringe demand. It\u2019s the obvious response to an obvious problem.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> After Years Of \u2018Hold My Beer\u2019 Moments, Supreme Court Confidence Hits New Low<\/a>
Donald Trump Wants Everyone (But Him) To Respect The Supreme Court\u2019s Legitimacy<\/a>
Americans Know The Truth About The Supreme Court<\/a>
Fox News Shows Just How Badly Americans Dislike The Supreme Court<\/a>
Of Course The Supreme Court\u2019s Approval Is In The Tank<\/a>
The Supreme Court\u2019s Sinking Popularity<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new poll from Verasight dropped this week, and its findings should be a wake-up call for everyone currently pretending the Supreme Court\u2019s legitimacy crisis is a partisan fever dream. Short version: it isn\u2019t. We\u2019ve been tracking the Court\u2019s legitimacy crisis for years now, and the numbers keep getting grimmer. Registered voters with \u201ca great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":155791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-FCDxNV.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}