What sort of Supreme Court nominee should President-elect Trump pick after he’s inaugurated? A new poll conducted by Marist says that in theory, at least, most people like the idea of replacing the late Justice Antonin Scalia with someone who is a lot like him.
From the press release:
[A] majority of Americans (52 percent versus 40 percent) want the court to interpret the constitution “as it was originally written” and not on what they think the “constitution means now.” Independents agree (50 percent to 42 percent), as do Republicans (78 percent to 18 percent). Even three in 10 Democrats share this opinion (31 percent), and about six in 10 do not (59 percent).
The poll was conducted in mid-December for the Knights of Columbus, who do a lot of pro-life advocacy. (Full disclosure: I was briefly a member more than a decade ago, and I own a life insurance policy from them.) So it obviously deserves a grain of salt.
Then again, I’ve never seen evidence of a robust public buy-in to the “living Constitution” school of judicial interpretation. People like the court decisions they like — including perhaps some that hew to that theory — but to the average voter, basing decisions on what the Constitution’s original meaning is just common sense.
The poll also asked about the issue of religious freedom, which I think might be an underrated contributor to the surprise election result in November:
[T]he vast majority of Americans also believe religious freedom should be protected even when it conflicts with government laws (65 percent to 25 percent). Strong majorities of Republicans (74 percent), Independents (63 percent) and Democrats (60 percent) agree.
Another thing: Judicial picks are not necessarily the sexiest issue for voters. They might have opinions, but they aren’t always necessarily that deeply felt.
To take a recent example, one poll taken in March of last year showed that 64 percent — including 55 percent of Republicans — believed that Merrick Garland should get a hearing. But even if the concern was a mile wide, it was only an inch deep. When the Republican Senate majority refused to hold hearings for Garland, denying Obama the opportunity to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, voters evidently didn’t care about it enough that it determined how they voted.
