Supreme Court's Members Little-Known How manyjustices are women? asked April 2015 Who is the swing vote in divided cases? August2013* Who is the chief justice? July 2012
In Pew Research Center’s most recent knowledge quiz, just 33% knew that there are three women on the Supreme Court – Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. A higher percentage (39%) said that there are two women on the high court, while 14% said there is one and 4% said four.
An August 2013 survey included the names and photos of four justices – Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas – and asked which one had most often been the court’s “swing vote.” Despite the fact that there had been several closely divided Supreme Court cases during the 2012-2013 term in which Kennedy’s votes were often decisive, just 28% correctly identified him as the swing vote.
Chief Justice John Roberts is also not well-known. In July 2012, shortly after Roberts cast the deciding vote upholding most of the Affordable Care Act, just 34% identified Roberts as chief justice from a list that included Stephen Breyer, Harry Reid and William Rehnquist. That was not much better than the 28% who identified Roberts from a similar list in 2010.
Supreme Court's Members Little-Known  | How manyjustices are women? asked April 2015  | Three  | 33  | One  | 14  | Two  | 39  | Four  | Refused  | 10  | Who is the swing vote in divided cases? August2013*  | Kennedy  | 28  | Sca lia  | 20  | Ginsburg  | 18  | Tho mas  | 15  | Refused  | 18  | Who is the chief justice? July 2012  | Roberts  | 34  | Re hnquist  | 12  | Reid  | Breyer 1  | Refused  | 51  | Correctanswer to each question isin bold *August.0013 question  | included photos of each answer choice with names.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 