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Larry Downing / Reuters file
Can you name these Supreme Court justices? Take our quiz below.
The Supreme Court has been making big headlines this summer, both with its split decision to upheld one part of a tough Arizona immigration law while striking down three other parts, and its decision to upheld the 2010 health care law, thus preserving President Obama’s landmark legislative achievement.
Supreme Court upholds health care law
In the latter ruling, the majority opinion held that the Affordable Care Act was a valid exercise of Congress’s power to tax. In the ruling on Arizona's immigration law, the part that the justices upheld requires police officers stopping someone to make efforts to verify the person’s immigration status with the federal government.
Scalia: Judges should interpret words, not intent
High court strikes down key parts of Arizona immigration law
Despite all the media attention, a national survey by FindLaw.com, a legal information Web site, found that nearly two-thirds of Americans can't name any of the nine members of the Supreme Court of the United States. In fact, results show that only 34 percent of Americans can name any member of the nation's highest court, and only one percent can correctly name all nine justices.
"Recent rulings, particularly the decision upholding health care reform, have brought more attention to the U.S. Supreme Court than we've seen in past years," said Stephanie Rahlfs, an attorney and editor at FindLaw.com. "However, the High Court issues its rulings as a collective body. While justices can and do issue individual concurring and dissenting opinions, court sessions are conducted without TV cameras and deliberations take place behind closed doors. So while the decisions often have significant and lasting impact, the justices themselves are generally not very visible nor well known to the public as individuals."
Could you pass the US citizenship test?
The court's chief justice was the most well-known, but even he could only be named by 20 percent of the 1,000 Americans surveyed by FindLaw.com.
Do you think you can name all of the Supreme Court justices? Take the quiz below and share your results in the comments.
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Leave a Comment:
to easy.
Those same people can damn sure tell you who SNOOKIE is or Kim Kardashian. Mindless zombies...
Of course this is easy for those who pay attention to politics and government. But keep in mind, less than 30% of the US has a college education, and only half have a high school diploma, so it's no surprise so many Americans fail to name a SC judge.
Having a college education doesn't qualify one to be considered "smart".
The original question is, "Nearly two-thirds of Americans can't name a single Supreme Court justice; can you?" HELL, IS KNOWING THEIR MARITAL STATUS THAT IMPORTANT?
Why would being able to name a SC judge be important? The American public has no control over who is assigned to that court, so it's immaterial.
You passed the test only if you are an idiot. For example, Sandra Day O'Connor is not a supreme court justice. If you were too stupid to realize she retired, you got a point.
Doug: Too easy is right. I didn't think you would get to choose from a list, but instead, come up with the names on your own.
Udunnobro: Sorry you didn't pass the test.
A college education better qualifies someone to be smart when compared to a high school diploma.
Not that easy for most of America. But most can name Snow White and the 7 dwarfs. That's more important.
Let's seeee,,, Smiley
Heck, some folks don't even know who the President is but sure know the family's dog name, after all, it just went on a diet.
2/3's of American's are morons.
"too" easy
Well when we the public dont get a choice as to who is elected to that position we dont remember them. We only remember them when they vote against the party lines or do something that gets them in the News. Aren't they bought and paid for by the party lines??? So are there any true SCJ that dont look at the political factor when determining what Laws should struck down and which ones are to be reinforced as Law.
Finally. I can say I'm one of the 1%. Off the top of my head too.
Talk about a worthless quiz. Able to name 8 out of 9 Supreme Court Justices. Miss one by mixing it up with a Supreme Court Justice that retired in 2010 and because they group it as 3 questions I get a 58% and considered as a fail. lol
What does that have to do with it? Too bad stupid people can vote.
Not a surprise. Half of the people probably don't know who is their representatives in their local, state, or natial races are either. All they know is they don't like what is being done to them.
But, I bet if you asked who were the top 3 on American Idol or some other game/reality show last year, the majority would get that right.
Does it matter? We can't vote for them or recall them. Knowing who they are is as helpful as knowing the name of the IRS agent who processes your tax return. It's very important both people do their jobs correctly, but we have no influence over either of them.
My representatives in Congress, however, are subject to my vote and have to at least pretend to read my emails.
Yes, it does matter. Knowing the identities of the Supreme Court justices indicates a familiarity with the judicial branch of our government and, possibly, an understanding how it operates. Each of these justices has a unique "style", background, and philosophy. Knowing the differing legal philosophical outlooks of each justice helps one to better understand the reasoning and legal interpretations underpinning Supreme Court decisions. I would recommend to anyone who is displeased with a court decision, to go and read the full text (Don't just watch a 20-sec fluff piece on cable!) of the decision and try to follow the reasoning behind the decision as well as the dissent. I believe it would give you a greater appreciation for value of the judicial branch. Of course, if you just wish to wallow in ignorance, I can't stop you, but I don't have to value your opinion either.
I think the point is....if you know their names it's because you are interested in what actually goes on in the country, and you educate yourself about the events that shape our laws, effect our rights and impact our way of life. It will require turning off fox "news" which only tells you what they want you to think, and being curious enough to read news articles that don't have a lot of interesting pictures, graphics or background music to entertain and distract.
It's very clear that most Americans have no clue what the Constitution says or means...and seem to feel it's much like the bible...a document that will support whatever exclusionary position they currently hold. The Supreme Court is charged with ensuring the laws brought before them are constitutional, and they are appointed for life...so it's crucially important to know whether they have personal biases that would prevent them from being objective. Hopefully that is determined before they are confirmed, but when politics trumps concern for the common good and a misogynist or a bigot or a zealot is confirmed, then we need to know so that we can provide some balance to the court with future appointments. Congress confirms justices...and we can all make our feelings known to our representatives before they do....so we do have an opportunity to involve ourselves in the process to some limited degree.
DB Akron
Half the people don't know who their father is neither.
Hell, most of the Tea Party trolls don't even know how many justices there are.
What a pointlessly inflammatory comment.
AG... I guess the truth hit a sore nerve.
Yes, that sort of mindless rhetoric does hit a nerve. It sums up all that's wrong with American discourse these days.
(I'd like to continue a discussion on the lack of civility in our society, but I have to go right now so I'm sorry I can't reply.)
AG.. And you and other RWNJs contribute to that discourse every day on these articles.
AG99 is right. The post was pointless. It it hits a nerve for me, too.
Why do you have to attack for no purpose?
Most likely, there are plenty of LWNJ's who don't know either.
hambone... You RWNJs are a nervous bunch aren't you?
true that
Read Susan Herbst. She makes some very good points on civility today.
Louie,
Thank you for the giggle. That may be the first time I have ever been called an RWNJ. I you would like, you could read some of my other posts elsewhere to see just how RW I am.
I just think your post was pointless and inflammatory; it was a perfect example of the deteriorating civility in both politics and the U.S.
Louie, I've said on several occasions now that I'm probably going to vote for Obama, but I guess you don't want to read that as it puts a damper on your right-wing stereotyping. It's always "the other side" who are guilty of rudeness, never your own.
But that same group of people, some of whom unfortunately vote, can tell you the names of the last 200 contestants on Dancing With The Stars............................
The exam is bugged. It gives only full credit for answers to questions 2 and 3. I got all of Q#3 correct and missed only 2 on Q#2 but it gave me no credit for those answers. Fix the bugs.
Regardless, it was an interesting exercise.
I agree. I got 8 out of nine, but it only gave me half credit.
Me too. I thought Souter retired after that boner eminent domain BS ruling.
I scored the same as Gene... and got the shaft. Fix it.
I had the same issue. 8 out of 9 named correctly, but got no points. On the other hand, I passes the citizenship with a perfect score so I guess I get to stay. :)
In many cases missing some isn't due to a lack of education. When people like myself in their 60's and 70's miss some it has more to do with memory than education.
Got 1 of 9 wrong and the quiz gave me 6/12 points and declared I failed. Harsh.
this is the problem with America education system, always looking for credit. why need a credit if you could get all questions correct.
pstttttttt, I think your last sentence is good, especially about curiosity. College however does not make you smart or curious, it does seem to indicate that if you can make it through college, you are more likely to be smart and curious. I know too many people with little or no college that have started with little and grown to be very successful in their own right. To go off topic, I am concerned that education that we live with today, predicated on test scores, is turning out people that are much less smart or curious.
Technically the use of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court title is NOT correct. It is Chief Justice of the United States.
I identified 7 out of the 9 justices and I got a 50% Fail, interesting.
Really interesting, since I got 7 out of 9 and got a 0%. Somebody needs to check their math, because the last time I checked, 7 out of 9 was 78%.
Same here 7/9.. 1. Correct 2. Wrong (missed 1) 3. Wrong (missed 1).. got me a 0%!?!?
jon... I guess that's what happens when you grade completely objectively. There is not room for answers that are technically correct but aren't the ones on the answer sheet.
The quiz is poorly coded. When the article says 2/3 of the American public can't name a single Supreme Court Justice and I (and others) name seven of them and get scores of 2%, there's something wrong.
Not only that but typing in "roberts" instead of "Roberts" counts as wrong...
I'm one of those who can't tell you anything about American Idol, Survivor, Dancing with the has been's, or any reality based show. I can tell you plenty about our government and who's who. Most of my friends think I'm not "normal". I guess knowing who's who in charge of a country is abnormal, but who's who in celebrity world is. Hmmmm.....guess that's why we are in the state we're in.....scary, very scary.
Lora... If you want to know someone who agrees with you completely you should read the last few chapters of Susan Jacoby's book. "The Age of American Unreason."
I'm in complete agreement....I have never seen any of those shows and hopefully I never will.....most of the time I wonder why I even have a TV.....and yes most peeps think I'm weird....BUT I can tell u plenty about what's going on in the political world and our government.....I will look for the book at my local library!!!
Seems this test is built to sway the statistics in favor of the headline. I named 8 of the 9 Justices and received a 58 failing score. I'm not a lawyer but I do play one on TV.
queenie, please take my question in the way it is meant; if you don't watch TV and you indicate that when you want to know something political you look for it in a book at the library, how do you keep current?
Please understand, I am not a fan of the garbage on TV nor from talk radio, or from any one source on the internet, when taken as a single element; but don't you think it is a small part of getting different viewpoints?
Dang, I missed one and I get a fail? Someone should give the quiz makers a quiz.
Right! I was thinking that some very poor PHP coder wrote this up and then used it to determine that 2/3 of the people don't know a single name, but really it means 1/3 of the people got them all right.
Well I was hoping to have gotten them all correct, but I did correctly name the chief justice and 6 of 8 others. You know what that got me? A 0%! Geez I would have thought that would have been good enough for something considering the point of the thing was to support that 2/3 of people cannot name a single justice. Perhaps the same code was used to determine this value.
Obama has been bypassing Congress. Why remember the names of the Supreme Court? Obama will bypass them next.
You're silly.
He's not silly, he's stupid, as are most of the irrational haters.
The Chief Justice's middle name starts with the letter "G", I included it in my answer because that's how I've always known it and got it wrong. What unjustice!!!
Who cares about the supreme court justices when we as Americans aspire to "keeping up with the Kardashians" and watching Oompa Lumpas' procreate on "the Jersey Shore".
Yes I can! From left to right (Front Row) Braxton, Frank, Mitch, Roger and Bethany... (L-R Back Row) Michelle, Bill, Tom and Yuda... How'd I do?
Awesome! Now, can you do anything about it? No - so what's the point.
It seems that most Americans are just a little distracted today trying to refinance their homes, trying to learn how to manage a family household where an annual 6% increase in goods are common and raises are not. We are just a little distracted right now trying to concentrate on shifting market place and keeping our skills up. If anything this article is more dramatic than useful because we are in hard economic times and do have time for bandwagoning and glittering generalities at this point. Have your writers and editors knowck on few dooors and see what people say about the Supreme Court right now. They will most likely give you a blank stare and say when will they pass laws that protect outsourcing and mandatory cost of living allowances? Sorry for all that rhetoric for those who think you have to pick up yourselves by your own bootstraps. Good luck with that when there is much opportunity but scarce means to the resources to change it into a job. You know why peopel can tell all about TV stars? It is because distraction from hard economic times is a coping skill. Not dumb people.
Good Day.
Let me know when SCOTUS passes a law. The "coping skills" part I can live with that.
Just for curiosity, I tried to come up with as many names as possible from a cold start (seven), before taking the quiz - where I discovered the other two! Was delighted to see, at the end, that I'd correctly selected all nine who are presently serving (quite a few alumni in there, too).
Memory aid: try chief justice first, then the women, then the other guys. It helps!
And, yes - it DOES MATTER, as this summer's Affordable Care Act decision (for one) amply demonstrates...
I did a similar thing by listing 12 recent justices from memory, and tagging Roberts as the Chief Justice. Unfortunately, I clicked on Stevens instead of Kagan -- I forgot he had retired. The darn test said I scored 58% -- 7/12. In truth, I actually got better than 8/9 or 89% since I wrote their names down without benefit of looking at the multiple choice lists.
I think MSNBC should have checked out the program/script before release because it's got a huge flaw in its calculation of scores. Perhaps their next article should be about how bad MSNBC workers are with basic math skills.
Who cares or wants too! they all pretty much suck! Roberts is a coward, Kennedy is the only one that looks to be a real judge.
And I'm sure you're so eminently qualified to judge them.
Maybe judging someone by how they look instead of what they've done or might do is your problem. Probably people like you that thought Romney would make a good president.
Who cares, scotus is now controlled as much as the Pubs n Dems........stop cheering on these political entertainers and educate yourselves as to what is really going on.
I'm not surprised about that. In 2008, my Austiran niece of 21 years of age visited me here in Washington, and she could name all the Supreme Court Justices. At the time, we had the presidential election going on, and in my notion, Sarah Palin probabilty wouldn't have been able to know one by name.
Amazing isn't it Peter that Europeans know more about this country then the so called red blooded americans. I find that positively absurd. I guess the term Ugly American fits the majority.
I am one of those Europeans, though I've lived in the U.S. (married to a U.S. guy) for some time. I think it's vital to know who's who in government, from the local representatives all the way up to the Supreme Court. To those who say that we have more pressing matters than remembering the names of the nine justices, I say that is pure BS. Our brain capacity can handle multiple things and skills and names. These justices affect our daily lives much more so than the latest idiot celebrity.
I guess I don't see the big deal... why should we know these people's names? we have no influence over them, they are above the law, they can't re recalled and I didn't vote for any of them. They are just more political trash that are trying to take more and more of my hard earned money and give it to illegals and bums, I could care less what their names are.
They can be impeached and removed from office. Were you able to vote for a federal judge what criteria would you use. What makes a good judge or justice?
do me a favor and please do not vote in Nov. You comer off as just angry, ignorant persons.
Maybe so you can read the news and understand what's going on and affecting your life?
That's exactly what Mr Scalia's wife is counting on.
I got 83%. For the first question; who is the Chief Justice I wrote John G Roberts and it called it incorrect. Clearly the test is flawed.
Are you serious? Yes, there us something horribly wrong -I correctly named 8 out of 9, yet failed with a 58%. Perhaps you only wish to scew your stats to prove YOUR point and sell your story. Shame, shame on you. You must be a member of the "stupid" party.
This is really LAME! I get questions 1 & 3 Completely right, and only miss one of the names in question 2 yet I score a 7 out of 12! How is that possible? I correctly identified 8 of the 9 justices and barely break 50%. Shame on the authors of this questionnaire for making people seem less informed than they truly are.
...no doubt, Obama supporters lead their ignorant masses to the precipice.....
And I suppose you're a member of Mensa. Do you even know what Mensa is?
Mike.....wipe your nose little boy, there's snot all over your face.......dummy....
Isn't mensa the stuff you sprinkle on food to lose weight?
Mensa? That's sort of like PMS.