A survey revealed that most Americans don't want President Joe Biden to pack the Supreme Court. Many of them also believe that protection for religious freedoms would be decreased if he did.
The Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy survey was conducted on 1,100 registered voters nationwide via telephone for the period April 15-19, 2021, CBN News reported. Part of the questions asked in the survey was how Americans felt if Biden would act on a proposal of the Democratic Party to increase the number of Supreme Court Judges to thirteen members from its current nine members.
According to Mason-Dixon, the question resulted to a 31% "should," 65% "should not," and 4% "not sure" on a nationwide level. This turns into 63% of "Dems," 3% "Reps," and 22% "Inds" saying Biden "should" when the results are broken down according to "party."
While, as per those aged 50 and above, 74% do not find this agreeable while those younger do at 55% with. By gender, 73% of "male" and 58% of "female" do not agree, 25% of "male" and 46% of "female" agrees, and 2% of "male" and 6% of "female" are actually unsure about the matter.
Prior to asking this question, respondents were asked on their familiarity with "packing the court" and on whether they support or oppose it.
Respondents were asked the given a situation of the Supreme Court being made into thirteen members but with the scenario of former President Donald Trump being reelected and initiating the packing. The results showed that 90% of "Dems" and 83% of "Inds" oppose while 14% of "Reps" support" it. On a nationwide scale, 11% support the idea while 83% oppose it and 6% were undecided.
Mason-Dixon also asked voters if they believe "protection for religious liberty would increase or decrease" if more justices were added to the Supreme Court. The nationwide results showed that 44% agree it will "decrease" religious liberty, 20% said it will "increase" it, another 20% said there will be "no change" to it, while 16% were "not sure" if there would be any effect to it.
The survey, Mason-Dixon explained, was conducted by interviewing randomly-selected voters taken from the nationwide list through land-lines and mobile phones. Mason-Dixon said that a quota was given to achieve voter registration by state and that the margin of error is plus or minus 3% points.
Biden announced earlier this month that a Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States will be formed through an executive order pending the results of the examination of a bipartisan group for it, CBN News said.
The said bipartisan group will study the Supreme Court's structure and from it decide if there is a need to restructure it or not. The Commission is said to be composed of former federal judges, scholars, and any one "who simply want to change America's democratic institutions."
According to CBN News, the structure and composition of the Supreme Court would "take an act of Congress" that is supported by the president. The U.S. Supreme Court is said to have had nine justices since 1869 and restructuring it to 13 justices comes as a "serious move" that will have a large impact in the country.
Republicans are against Biden's court packing since the Democrats only wanted more justices to approve "the rulings they want," CBN noted.
NBC News reported that a Democratic-bill pushed Supreme Court packing will only "politicize the system even more" and will be "to the detriment of the republic." NBC News was referring to the Judiciary Act of 2021 that the Democrats introduced last week.
"The court's democratic legitimacy as the final arbiter of deeply divisive policies and our most sacred rights - often defending them against the actions of the elected branches--relies on a reputation for impartiality. Turning it into a super legislature would make it more partisan in perception and reality, deepening the confusion of the legislative and judicial functions as both parties jockey for position on an unelected body that makes major decisions about how we are governed," NBC News said.
