A majority of people see the Supreme Court heading in a direction influenced by politics rather than the law, according to a new poll.
An ABC News-Washington Post poll found that 51% of people believe the Supreme Court justices base their rulings on personal political opinions and not the law — a likely result of months of controversial decisions and perceived ethics violations by the court.
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In February 2022, before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the public was evenly divided, 46% to 45%, on whether justices made decisions due to political preferences or the rules of the law.
Now, only 39% of all respondents believe decisions are based on law. The most drastic change came among independents, of which now only 35% believe justices rule on law over politics — a 12 percentage point decrease from February 2022. Among Democrats, independents, and liberals, faith in the court to follow the law dropped by double digits.
Republicans and conservatives remain evenly split on their perception of the court, with Republicans only increasing by 3 percentage points and conservatives by 2 percentage points since February last year.
The poll comes as the Supreme Court is under fire for the ethics standards of its justices, particularly Clarence Thomas, after it was revealed that he accepted gifts and lavish trips from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.
Top Democrats and even some Republicans are demanding several reforms to the top judicial system, anything from an "enforceable" code of ethics to more extreme calls for the Justice Department to investigate Thomas or for Thomas to resign from his position on the court altogether.
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Senate Democrats recently asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee over ethics reform inquiries, but Roberts declined. The Democrats also asked Crow to provide a full list of gifts given to Thomas, but Crow denied that request.
The poll was conducted for ABC News by Langer Research Associates from April 28 to May 3, with a sample of 1,006 adults. The margin of error was 3.5 percentage points.