Washington – About half of the public thinks the Supreme Court is generally balanced in its decisions, but a growing number of Americans say the court has become “too conservative” since President Bush began nominating justices, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Nearly a third of the public – 31 percent – thinks the court is too far to the right, a noticeable jump since the question was last asked in July 2005. That’s when Bush nominated John G. Roberts Jr. to the court and, in the six-month period that followed, the Senate approved Roberts as chief justice and confirmed Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
The two have proved to be reliably conservative justices, and the increasingly polarized court this year moved to uphold restraints on abortion, restrict student speech rights and limit the ability of school districts to use race in student assignments.
The public seems to have noticed the shift. The percentage who said the court is “too conservative” grew from 19 percent to 31 percent in the past two years, while those who said it is “generally balanced in its decisions” declined from 55 percent to 47 percent.
“I think it shows that we’re at a tipping point in time,” said Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal group People for the American Way.
But conservative activists say the public is ambivalent about the two issues that have most marked the court’s turn to the right – upholding the ban on the procedure that abortion foes call partial-birth abortion and restricting the use of race in school assignments.
