How often does the Supreme Court overturn its own decisions?
Fewer than 1% of Supreme Court cases have overturned an older decision. More than half of these cases concerned economic activity or criminal procedure.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
Supreme Court
How Biden compares with other recent presidents in appointing federal judges
As Biden’s term draws to a close, here’s a look at the federal judges the 46th president appointed during his four years in the White House.
Most Americans favor maximum age limits for federal elected officials, Supreme Court justices
79% of Americans favor maximum age limits for elected officials in Washington, D.C. And 74% support such limits for Supreme Court justices.
Sign up for our politics newsletter
Our latest politics data every month
All
Supreme Court
Publications
-
Positive Views of Supreme Court Decline Sharply Following Abortion Ruling
Americans’ ratings of the Supreme Court are now as negative as – and more politically polarized than – at any point in more than three decades of polling. And nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64%) now say the Supreme Court has too much power, almost three times the share who said this in August 2020 (23%).
-
Majority of Public Disapproves of Supreme Court’s Decision To Overturn Roe v. Wade
Opinion on the legality of abortion has changed little since before the court’s decision, with 62% now saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
-
More support than oppose Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination, with many not sure
44% of the public says the Senate should definitely (24%) or probably (20%) confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
-
5 facts about the Supreme Court
Here is a roundup of Americans’ views of the court, perceptions of its ideology, the history of confirmations and justices’ backgrounds.
-
Up until the postwar era, U.S. Supreme Court confirmations usually were routine business
It’s worth remembering that vacancies on the Supreme Court didn’t always devolve into partisan slugfests.
-
Black women account for a small fraction of the federal judges who have served to date
Only 70 of the 3,843 people who have ever served as federal judges as of Feb. 1, 2022, have been Black women.
-
Public’s Views of Supreme Court Turned More Negative Before News of Breyer’s Retirement
Today, 54% of U.S. adults say they have a favorable opinion of the Supreme Court, while 44% have an unfavorable view. And 84% say justices should not bring their political views into decisions.
-
How Trump compares with other recent presidents in appointing federal judges
Donald Trump leaves the White House having appointed nearly as many appeals court judges in four years as Barack Obama appointed in eight.
-
Only 24% of Trump supporters view the coronavirus outbreak as a ‘very important’ voting issue
Supporters of Donald Trump and Joe Biden differ widely on the issues that are “very important” to their vote.
-
With religion-related rulings on the horizon, U.S. Christians see Supreme Court favorably
Christians are more likely than religiously unaffiliated Americans to see the Supreme Court favorably (69% vs. 51%).
