The 2024 term of the Supreme Court will have an impact on U.S. democracy for years to come. The court both overturned long-standing precedents such as Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, upheld laws, and set new precedents.
Recent controversies over Justice Clarence Thomas not disclosing millions of dollars worth of gifts and Samuel Alito and his wife flying a flag associated with Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal movement have spotlighted the Supreme Court beyond its rulings.
While more Americans disapprove than approve of the court's handling of its job, opinions are divided by political party. More than twice the share of Republicans than of Democrats (62% vs. 25%) approve of the Supreme Court.
The current justices have been very open about their personal lives and political viewpoint. Americans are more likely to say Supreme Court justices should not express their political views in their personal lives than to say it is OK (46% vs. 28%). While a majority of Democrats think it is unacceptable, Republicans are closely divided.
Here is a more detailed look at Americans' opinions of major Supreme Court rulings from the latest term, based on YouGov polls conducted this year.
Trump v. United States
The Supreme Court ruled that a president has some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts and absolute immunity for official acts stemming from his constitutional powers. However, the court ruled that the president has no immunity for unofficial acts.
Only 20% of registered voters agree with the Supreme Court that presidents should have legal immunity protecting them from being charged for any actions they have taken as president. A majority of Americans (63%) disagree.
More Donald Trump supporters (38%) than Joe Biden supporters (8%) support legal immunity for presidential actions.
This ruling will delay the start of the Donald Trump classified documents case in Florida and potentially the other cases against him. It may push hearings until after the 2024 election.
39% of Americans — including 63% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans — say that the classified documents case should begin before the 2024 election. And 40% of Americans say that the four charges against him for obstructing the certification of the electoral vote — a case that may not happen now due to Fischer v. U.S., a ruling discussed below — should be tried before November. And 41% of Americans say that the case where Trump faces 13 charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia should happen before the 2024 election.
Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce
The Supreme Court overruled Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council — a ruling that set an important precedent: Federal agencies, when creating their own policies, could interpret the law if it was unclear. The Chevron ruling meant that courts would defer to federal agencies in these situations and that bureaucratic actions in the environment of debatable law would not have to be brought before the court. The overturning of Chevron has an important and immediate impact on federal agencies.
A March poll found that when Americans are provided an outline of the Chevron doctrine, they are split: half (51%) said that courts should defer to how administrative agencies interpret laws in situations where the law is unclear. Half (49%) said they shouldn’t defer. More Democrats (66%) than Republicans (35%) supported Chevron.
Vidal v. Elster
Steve Elster sued the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for denying his application to trademark “Trump Too Small” and put it on T-shirts for sale. The USPTO cited the Lanham Act, which banned trademarks of a living person’s name without that person’s consent. The Supreme Court sided with the federal government, upholding its denial of Elster’s trademark petition.
A majority of Americans (57%) agree with the Supreme Court that federal law prohibiting trademarks that include people's names is constitutional. Slightly more Democrats (62%) than Republicans (52%) agree that the law does not violate the First Amendment.
Grants Pass v. Johnson
Under Supreme Court precedent, banning homeless people from sleeping outside, especially when local shelters are full, violated the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth amendment. The court reversed that with its Grant Pass v. Johnson ruling — voting 6-3 that these bans are constitutional.
A majority of Americans (58%) disagree with the Supreme Court, saying such a ban violates the cruel and unusual punishment clause because these people have nowhere else to go. More Democrats (69%) than Republicans (43%) say these sleeping bans are unconstitutional.
Netchoice v. Paxton and Moody v. Netchoice
Netchoice v. Paxton and Moody v. Netchoice were heard together by the Supreme Court. Florida and Texas had passed laws that restricted the ability of social media companies to moderate the content on their websites. Netchoice sued, arguing that these laws violate the First Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled against the states.
A majority of Americans (59.5%) say that states should not be allowed to prevent social media companies from censoring personal speech as it would violate their First Amendment rights. 40.5% say this ban on censorship would be constitutional. More Democrats (69%) than Republicans (49%) say that a state cannot prevent social media companies from censoring speech.
Fischer v. United States
In Fischer v. United States, the Supreme Court narrowed the federal criminal obstruction law being used against Americans who joined the riots on Jan. 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol.
71% of Americans believe that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was a criminal act. 29% disagree. Twice the share of Democrats than of Republicans (91% vs. 45%) say that the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6 were criminal.
Moyle v. United States
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Idaho criminalized most abortions, even in medical emergencies. Federal law requires federally funded hospitals to provide abortions in the case of emergency. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the federal government, holding that federal law supersedes state law in this scenario and that federally funded Idaho hospitals need to provide abortions in medical emergencies.
If state and federal law disagree as to whether abortions can be made available in the case of a medical emergency, about half of Americans (52%) say that federal laws should be followed rather than state laws. 28% of Americans say state laws should take precedence.
However, Americans are divided on whether abortion laws should be decided nationally or left to the states. 44% of Americans — including 67% of Democrats and 24% of Republicans — say abortion law should be decided nationally. 42% of Americans — including 20% of Democrats and 67% of Republicans — say it should be left to the states.
Harrington v. Purdue Pharma
The Supreme Court struck down the settlement between the Sackler family, the owners of Purdue Pharma and the creators of Oxycontin, and some of the families of victims of opioid abuse — in which the Sacklers would pay billions of dollars in return for immunity from future lawsuits.
74% of Americans agree with the court that the Sackler family should not keep their immunity from future lawsuits. Even though the majority in this ruling was made up of four conservative justices and one liberal justice, a greater share of Democrats (81%) than Republicans (67%) were in favor of dissolving the agreement and removing the Sacklers' future immunity.
United States v. Rahimi
In 1994, the U.S. passed a law preventing people who were under a restraining order for domestic violence by a judge from possessing firearms. Zackery Rahimi, who had been indicted under the law, sued the U.S. government, arguing that the law violated his Second Amendment rights. The Supreme Court ruled that the law is constitutional.
Department of State v. Muñoz
In the Muñoz case, the Supreme Court ruled that Americans don't have a constitutional right to challenge the visa denial of their spouse. Sandra Muñoz, who is a citizen of the U.S., had sued the State Department after her husband, who is not a citizen, was denied a visa.
Prior to the ruling, 61% of Americans said that undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens who have been married for at least 10 years should be able to apply for American residency without having to leave the country.
Garland v. Cargill
The Supreme Court struck down a Trump administration ban on rapid-fire bump stocks. This ban was passed in response to the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, in Las Vegas in 2017, when Stephen Paddock used semi-automatic rifles with bump stocks to kill 60 people. The court ruled that bump stocks — which replace the standard stock in a semi-automatic rifle and allow the gun to shoot hundreds of rounds in seconds — did not fall under the machine gun ban in the National Firearms Act of 1934.
Nearly half of Americans (47%) say the sale of bump stocks should be banned. Significantly more Democrats (74%) than Republicans (28%) say the sale of these accessories should be banned completely. 23% of Americans say they should be regulated but not banned, and 15% say they should be neither regulated nor banned.
Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine
The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, without ruling on the approval itself.
A majority of Americans supported the dismissal (68%), which allowed mifepristone to remain on the market. Majorities of Democrats (79%), Independents (71%), and Republicans (51%) agree that the FDA’s approval of the drug should not be revoked by the courts.
Half of Americans (48%) say medication abortion pills such as mifepristone are very or somewhat safe; only 15% say they are not very safe or not safe at all. Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say that medication abortion pills are safe (69% vs. 31%).
Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP
The Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision that racial gerrymandering was present in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District.
A majority of Americans (67%) disagree with the Supreme Court, saying that South Carolina changed the border of its First Congressional District because of voters’ race and that the map therefore is gerrymandered and unconstitutional. More Democrats (77%) than Republicans (56%) say South Carolina’s move was unconstitutional.
Majorities of Americans believe that it is never or sometimes unacceptable to consider race to limit the voting impact of certain racial groups (70%) or consider party advantage to limit the voting impact of the opposing political party (65%).
However, Americans are split on whether it is acceptable (38%) or not (38%) to consider race when drawing districts to ensure diverse racial representation.
50% of Americans say that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is still necessary. 22% of Americans say it was necessary when it was passed in 1965, but that it no longer is.
Trump v. Anderson
Several states — including Illinois, Colorado, and Maine — removed Trump from their Republican primary ballots under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Judges in these states ruled that Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6, 2021 qualified as insurrection or rebellion under this section. The Supreme Court overruled Colorado’s State Supreme Court, determining that states don’t have any power to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
About half of Americans (49%) approve of the court’s ruling, while 36% disapprove. 27% of Democrats and 82% of Republicans approve of the court’s decision.
— David Montgomery and Paul Teas contributed to this article
Related:
- How Americans evaluate the Supreme Court and its recent rulings
- Most Americans think Supreme Court decisions often are influenced by justices' political beliefs
Methodology:
- SCOTUSPoll, a collaboration between researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the University of Texas and conducted by YouGov from March 18-25, 2024, among using a nationally representative sample of 2,218 U.S. adults interviewed online. The poll’s margin of error is approximately 2.5%.
- Each Economist/YouGov poll was conducted among at least 1,500 U.S. adult citizens. The included surveys all are from 2024, and were conducted over the following dates: April 28 - 30, May 19 - 21, May 25 - 28, June 9 - 11, June 16 - 18, June 23 - 25, and June 30 - July 2. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample on each survey is approximately 3%.
- One Daily Questions survey was conducted online on March 4, 2024 among 4,526 U.S. adults. A second was conducted June 18 - 19 among 6,119 U.S. adults. The samples were weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. census region, and political party. The margin of error for the March 4, 2024 survey is approximately 2%; for the June 18 - 19 survey it is approximately 1.5%.
- The June 5 - 7, 2024 poll was conducted online among 1,092 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Unsplash (Bill Mason)
