EAGAN, Minn., Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- In spite of broad, high-profile news
coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court in the past year, 57 percent of Americans
can't name any current U.S. Supreme Court justices. According to a new
national survey conducted by FindLaw.com, the leading legal Web site, only
43 percent of American adults can name at least one justice who is currently
serving on the nation's highest court.
In any given year, the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on a broad range
of high-profile legal and constitutional issues. But in this past year, even
greater attention was focused on the Court following the announced retirement
of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist
and President Bush's subsequent nominations of John Roberts, the new chief
justice; Harriet Miers, who eventually withdrew her nomination; and Samuel
Alito, whose confirmation hearings began this week. Interest groups have
spent millions of dollars to sway public opinion on the nominations.
Still, the FindLaw.com survey finds a majority of Americans cannot name
even one U.S. Supreme Court justice. The survey results represent a slight
improvement over an identical survey conducted in 2003 that found only
35 percent of Americans could name any of the Supreme Court justices who were
serving at that time.
Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court, was
the justice most frequently identified in the latest survey. O'Connor
announced in July 2005 that she will retire from the Court as soon as a
replacement justice is seated.
The percentages of Americans who could name each current justice were as
follows:
27% Sandra Day O'Connor
21% Clarence Thomas
16% John Roberts
13% Antonin Scalia
12% Ruth Bader Ginsburg
7% Anthony Kennedy
5% David Souter
3% Stephen Breyer
3% John Paul Stevens
Additional results:
-- More men than women (46% to 39%) can name at least one Supreme Court
justice.
-- The ability to correctly name Supreme Court justices rises with
increases in age, education and household income.
-- Five percent of Americans believe William Rehnquist still serves on
the Supreme Court. The former chief justice died in September 2005.
-- Two percent of Americans believe Samuel Alito is a Supreme Court
justice. Alito was nominated for a seat on the Supreme Court by
President Bush in October 2005, but has not yet been confirmed by the
U.S. Senate.
-- The percentage of Americans who can name all nine current Supreme
Court justices, statistically speaking, is zero.
-- The percentage of Americans who can name eight or more of the nine
current Supreme Court justices also statistically rounds to zero.
-- The publicity surrounding the appointment of new Chief Justice John
Roberts appears to have made an impression. Sixteen percent of those
surveyed identified Roberts as a current member of the Court. In the
2003 survey, only 10 percent of those surveyed identified then-Chief
Justice William Rehnquist as a member of the Supreme Court.
-- Incorrect responses from those surveyed as to who is currently serving
on the U.S. Supreme Court included George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton,
Thurgood Marshall and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"In a way it's not surprising that most members of the public can't name a
single Supreme Court justice," says constitutional historian Stephen Presser,
a professor at Northwestern University Law School. "The average citizen
probably doesn't view the judicial role as being as important as the role of
Congress, which in effect makes the laws, or the president, who administers
the laws. The reality is that who sits on the Supreme Court makes a big
difference as to what happens to us as a nation. As such, the public ought to
be paying more attention to the Supreme Court and the battles over the
nomination of justices."
Information including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1893,
profiles of justices, court calendars, briefs and listings of current cases
can be found at FindLaw(R) ( http://www.findlaw.com ). Detailed results of
the survey can be found at http://public.findlaw.com/ussc/122005survey.html .
The national survey used a representative sample of 1,000 adults
nationwide, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, and
was conducted for FindLaw.com by Ipsos Public Affairs.
About Thomson FindLaw
Thomson FindLaw ( http://www.findlaw.com ) is the leading provider of
online legal information and solutions for the legal community, businesses and
individuals. According to comScore Media Metrix, a leading independent Web
usage reporting service, the FindLaw.com Internet portal is the
highest-trafficked legal Web site with 3.7 million unique monthly users --
three times more than its closest competitor. The site provides
comprehensive, plain-English legal information to businesses and individuals.
These resources include West Legal Directory(R), the Internet's largest
directory of lawyers and legal professionals. FindLaw.com also offers
comprehensive information, resources and services for law practice and legal
career development, including free case law, an online career center, breaking
legal news, newsletters, message boards, service directories, continuing legal
education and legal search tools. In addition, Thomson FindLaw provides
access to tools and services that help connect legal professionals with
potential clients. Thomson FindLaw is a business within The Thomson
Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).
SOURCE FindLaw.com
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Related links:
http://www.findlaw.com
http://public.findlaw.com/ussc/122005survey.html
CONTACT:
Kyle Christensen of Thomson FindLaw,
+1-651-687-7082, or kyle.christensen@thomson.com
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