Most Americans Can't Name Any Supreme Court Justices

(June 2) -- They are among the most powerful people in the nation. They're appointed for life, and they make decisions that affect all of us. And, if a new survey is right, you probably have no idea who they are.

Nearly two-thirds of the people questioned by FindLaw.com could not name even one member of the U.S. Supreme Court, and only 1 percent knew all nine justices.

Although a summer battle is brewing in Washington over Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, almost nobody in the poll mentioned the justice she would replace, John Paul Stevens. The best-known member of the high court is Clarence Thomas, who was named by 19 percent -- followed by Chief Justice John Roberts with 16 percent.

FindLaw's telephone survey of a "demographically balanced" group of 1,000 American adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent, according to the legal information website.

Firedoglake blogger Bill Egnor called the poll results evidence of "a real problem."

"It has long been a frustration of mine that the people of this nation know so little about their government and how it functions, but this really takes the cake!" Egnor railed. "If you don't even know who is saying that a law is or isn't constitutional, how in the world can you have a valid opinion about the job they are doing?"

On the other hand, attorney Doug Mataconis said the survey isn't entirely surprising because members of the court do most of their work out of the public eye and opinions are issued by "a collective body" rather than by individual justices.

"Unlike, say, people who don't have enough awareness of politics to identity their Federal or state representatives, the fact that large numbers of Americans don't know who Stephen Breyer or Anthony Kennedy might be is neither surprising or concerning," Mataconis wrote on the blog Outside the Beltway. "One imagines that these numbers would change, though, if the Court ever did accept the long-discussed idea of cameras in the courtroom."

New York magazine's Dan Amira agreed that public ignorance about the Supreme Court isn't surprising. But he wondered why only 15 percent were able to remember Sonia Sotomayor's name less than 10 months after the big fight over her confirmation.

"Does 'wise Latina' ring any bells? Empathy? First Hispanic on the Supreme Court, ever? Come on, America!" Amira complained.

One conservative blogger saw the survey as proof of the need to privatize schools, charging that the public education system has "miserably failed" in its most basic responsibility.

"I wonder how many of these Americans could name the winners of 'American Idol'? How can we guard liberty when even the most basic civic common knowledge is not so common?" lamented Left Coast Rebel.

While some comments posted on blogs echoed the same concerns, plenty of people didn't take the matter too seriously. Here are a few comments from readers of the always amusing, sometimes potty-mouthed site Wonkette.

• I got Diana Ross and Mary Wilson. Anybody else get more than two? -- One Yield Regular
• Hey now, I can name all the Supreme Court Judges! Why, there's Judge Mathis, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Wapner, Judge Judy, Judge Stern Black Lady, and Judge Harold T. Stone. -- JMP
• Let's see: There's Huey, Dewey, Louie, Sleepy, Dopey, Happy, Grumpy, Casper, Popeye, Bugs, Tweety, Sylvester, Tintin, Scalia, Alito, and Clarence. That's all twelve of them, right? -- Lascauxcaveman

Maybe Americans don't know much about civics, but some are still brilliant when it comes to sarcasm.

ANSWERS:

Here's who is in the portrait of the Supreme Court shown above and the percentage of people who could name them in the FindLaw.com survey.

Standing (left to right): Samuel Alito (8 percent), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (13 percent), Stephen Breyer (3 percent), Sonia Sotomayor (15 percent)

Seated (left to right): Anthony Kennedy (6 percent), John Paul Stevens (8 percent), John Roberts (16 percent), Antonin Scalia (10 percent), Clarence Thomas (19 percent)