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BOTTOM LINE

73% of voters say judges have too much power when issuing rulings that affect laws and regulations. Voters also overwhelmingly support prohibiting judge shopping, the practice often used by conservative activists seeking favorable rulings in friendly courts, with 88% saying that judges should be assigned randomly.

 

KEY POINTS

Voters overwhelmingly and bipartisanly say judges have too much power. 

  • A recent poll found nearly three-quarters (73%) of voters saying judges have too much power, including 80% of independents, 72% of Democrats, and 73% of Republicans. 
  • Frequently, MAGA judges oppose common sense policies that impact Americans far and wide on a range of issues, like gun safety measures, reproductive rights, and public health policies. 
  • Judges should not be able to legislate from the bench to advance extreme, partisan agendas. 

Voters are also overwhelmingly and bipartisanly against judge shopping

  • The same poll found that 88% of voters say judges should be assigned randomly, including 90% of independents, 86% of Democrats, and 90% of Republicans.
  • Judge shopping is distorting our judicial system. FDA vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which sought to ban the abortion pill, was noted as “the most dramatic example of judge shopping in recent years.” 
  • The case, which was widely criticized as having little legal merit, should never have been allowed to wind its way through the courts in the first place. 
  • The only reason the case was even allowed to move forward was the willingness of MAGA judges in the lower courts, who had a long personal history of opposing abortion and who plaintiffs hand picked to hear the case, to embrace fringe legal theories in order to deliver the decision activists wanted. 

To return public trust in our courts, Congress must continue to prioritize the confirmations of fair-minded, qualified judges who will act like the public servants they are meant to be and enact reforms that will help take politics out of our courts.