By Manny Marotta

A new Marquette Law School poll found that just 43% of Americans approve of the Supreme Court’s handling of its job, down from 47% in July, while disapproval rose from 53% to 57%.

Further, 57% of Americans say the justices’ decisions are motivated mainly by politics rather than the law, compared with 42% who say they are motivated mainly by the law.

The poll was conducted Sept. 2–9, 2026 among 1,023 adults nationwide.

Encouragingly, proposals for reforming the Court poll high: 89% of respondents (91% of Democrats, 91% of Republicans and 81% of Independents) favor “enforc[ing] a strict ethics code for justices” and 78% support imposing term limits on the justices (88% of Democrats, 71% of Republicans and 75% of Independents).It’s positive to see that Marquette Law continues to ask the ethics question despite the Court’s 2023 adoption of a Code of Conduct, which, as we all know, did not include an enforcement mechanism. (More thoughts on that here.)

On term limits, we’ve long supported 18-year terms through legislation, with the President appointing one justice every two years. Existing justices would be exempt, while retired justices could temporarily return to fill vacancies.