Fewer Than a Third of Americans Know Supreme Court Rulings are Final, a New Survey Finds

    PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 13 Most Americans know little about the workings of
 the U.S. Supreme Court, including the fact that Supreme Court rulings are
 final, according to a national survey conducted for the University of
 Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center.
 
     The findings are being released today in advance of Constitution Day,
 Monday, September 17.
 
     When asked "if a person disagrees with a ruling by the U.S. Supreme
 Court can he or she appeal the ruling to the Federal Court of Appeals?"
 only 30 percent know that the high court rulings are final, 32 percent
 think rulings can be appealed and 38 percent are "not sure" or "don't
 know."
 
     "These survey findings show just how important it is to educate all
 Americans about their government and the Constitution that created it,"
 said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy
 Center. "The health of a democracy depends on an enlightened and engaged
 citizenry."
 
     Other findings include:
 
       -- A majority of Americans, 55 percent, do not know that when the
          Supreme Court rules five to four on a case the decision is the law
          and needs to be followed. Fourteen percent believe the decision is
          sent to Congress for reconsideration, seven percent believe the
          decision is sent back to the lower courts and 34 percent simply
          "don't know."
 
       -- Only one in seven Americans (15 percent) can correctly name John
          Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States while two-thirds of
          Americans (66 percent) know at least one of the judges on the Fox
          television show American Idol.
 
     As part of a national effort to enhance knowledge about the
 Constitution, the Annenberg Public Policy Center has recently distributed
 to 27,000 schools around the country learning materials from its Annenberg
 Classroom project for use in Constitution Day observances and throughout
 the school year. The materials were provided at no cost.
 
     This is the third annual Annenberg Constitution Day initiative designed
 to help teachers and students explore the meaning and importance of our
 nation's founding document. This year's offerings -- created with the help
 of five justices of the Supreme Court and top Constitutional scholars --
 include:
 
     Films on DVD
 
     A Conversation on the Constitution: Judicial Independence
 
     Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day
 O'Connor speak with high school students from California and Pennsylvania
 about the significance of the judiciary in the federal government and the
 ways in which independence is protected by the Constitution.
 
     A Conversation with Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. on the Origin,
 Nature, and Importance of the Supreme Court
 
     Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr. and a group of
 high school students participate in a conversation about the high court --
 from its history and evolution to the methods Justices use in selecting and
 hearing cases to the role of an independent judiciary and other issues
 crucial to a healthy democracy today.
 
     A Conversation on the Constitution with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on
 the Fourteenth Amendment
 
     Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a group of students gather at the
 Supreme Court to discuss the importance of the Fourteenth Amendment and how
 it came to embody and protect the principle of "We the People."
 
     The Constitution Project: An Independent Judiciary
 
     This film chronicles two key moments that defined our understanding of
 the role of the judiciary: the Cherokee Nation's struggles before the
 Supreme Court in the 1830s to preserve its homeland, and Cooper v. Aaron,
 the 1958 Supreme Court case that affirmed that states were bound to follow
 the Court's order to integrate their schools.
 
     The films, in addition to previously available Constitution Day DVDs,
 are available on the Annenberg Classroom website at
 www.AnnenbergClassroom.org captioned in 14 different languages.
 
     Radio Programs from Justice Talking
 
     Justice Talking, an award-winning radio program from the Annenberg
 Public Policy Center and NPR, has selected two of its shows for use on
 Constitution Day. These shows, hosted by NPR's Margot Adler, are available
 on CD, online at www.justicetalking.org or can be downloaded for use on an
 MP3 player. They include:
 
     Does Free Speech Stop at the Schoolhouse Door? examines the Supreme
 Court case Morse v. Frederick, which asked whether school administrators
 can limit student speech both in school buildings and outside at school--
 sponsored events.
 
     The Death Penalty: Is Justice Being Served? addresses a variety of
 controversial issues surrounding the death penalty, including a botched
 execution in Florida that raised the question of whether lethal injection
 violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual
 punishment.
 
     Supplemental learning materials, including interactive timelines and
 related New York Times Learning Network articles, can be found online at
 www.justicelearning.org.
 
     Lesson plans and other additional resources are available at
 www.AnnenbergClassroom.org for use on Constitution Day and throughout the
 school year.
 
     About this survey:
 
     The 2007 Annenberg Public Policy Center Judicial Survey obtained
 telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,514
 adults living in continental United States telephone households. The survey
 was conducted by Princeton Survey Research International. The interviews
 were conducted in English by Princeton Data Source, LLC from August 8 to
 September 2, 2007. Statistical results are weighted to correct known
 demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete
 set of weighted data is �2.9%.
 
     Kathleen Hall Jamieson is available to answer questions about the
 implications of the survey's data. She can be reached at 215-898-9400.
 
     About Constitution Day:
 
     In December 2004, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat and the
 United States Congress's unofficial constitutional scholar, sponsored an
 amendment, approved by the House and Senate, which requires that all
 educational institutions receiving federal funds implement educational
 programs relating to the United States Constitution on September 17, the
 date the Constitution was signed in 1787. The legislation took effect in
 2005.
 
     A project of the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands in
 partnership with the Annenberg Public Policy Center, Annenberg Classroom is
 an online gateway to award-winning print, web and multimedia resources for
 teachers and students. For more information, visit
 www.annenbergclassroom.org
 
 
 
 
 

SOURCE The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania