I have a piece in Salon this morning about the curious polling results that show half of Democrats think this Supreme Court is “just right”. And those findings were the same before the decisions last week. Conservatives, certainly don’t agree:
As one might imagine, the conservatives are up in arms. Even a death penalty affirmation and Justice Scalia’s inane ranting about applesauce wasn’t enough to soothe them. According to CNN’s post-decision polling, the right is very upset with this “lefty” court. That’s right. They believe this court is way too liberal. Here’s how it breaks down by party:
Republicans are most apt in the new poll to say the Court’s ideology is too far to the left: 69% see the Court as too liberal. That’s up from 2012, when 59% of Republicans called it too liberal.
Nearly 70 percent of Republicans see this court as too liberal. And this can be attributed to the Chief Justice’s unwillingness to strike down a law that allows people to buy affordable health care and Justice Kennedy’s belief that marriage is so great that everyone ought to be able to do it. That used to be called “compassionate conservatism” and “family values,” but those seems to be out of fashion.
Still, it’s not all that surprising that Republicans would think the court is too liberal. They have been indoctrinated in that idea for half a century and for many it’s just a reflexive belief devoid of any substance. “Unelected judges!” is right up there with “tort reform” for mindless right-wing rallying cries. (And as I’ve written here before, their judicial philosophy is anything but consistent.) But what in the world is going on with the Democrats?
Among Democrats, 34% now say they see the Court as too conservative and 15% too liberal, 49% say the Court is about right. In 2012, just 6% of Democrats described the Court as too liberal, but the share calling it too conservative was about the same at 35%.
I could understand why Democrats would have warm feelings toward John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy after last week. They both not only voted the right way, at least on Obamacare, they also wrote opinions last week in ways that are very satisfying and carry some legal heft going into the future. But half of Democrats thought the court was just right even before those opinions. How can this be? This is the court that has brought us Hobby Lobby and Citizens United and tore the guts out of the Voting Rights Act.
Read on to see some of the reasons why this disconnect has happened. I found that it’s not as simple a question as it may seem — and it’s actually fairly complicated. And daunting. Liberals will continue to win a few even with this court simply because the conservatives are swinging for the fences and striking out some of the time. But overall, this court is moving us right and very quickly, particularly on issues that favor business and big money, and it won’t be easy to swing it back.