U.S. Majority Wants Congress to Codify Rights, Protections Established by Prior SCOTUS Rulings

by | Aug 9, 2022 | News

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The U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. (Credit: Louis Velazquez / Unsplash / https://tinyurl.com/2p8u3m7v)

A majority of U.S. adults want to see Congress pass legislation that would codify rights and protections established in five Supreme Court rulings, according to a YouGov / The Economist survey published August 3.

The 6-3 SCOTUS ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which had established a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion prior to her third trimester.

Writing for the majority, Justice Alito said Roe was “egregiously wrong from the start,” asserting that “it is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives. … That is what the Constitution and the rule of law demand.”

In a concurring opinion, Justice Thomas emphasized that other SCOTUS rulings based on the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause should be revisited by the court.

“We should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ … we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents,” he wrote.

YouGov / The Economist asked U.S. adults to indicate their support for, or opposition to, Congress codifying the rights and protections that were established in five SCOTUS rulings: Roe v. Wade (abortion), Lawrence v. Texas (same-sex consensual sexual relations) Obergefell v. Hodges (same-sex marriage), Loving v. Virginia (interracial marriage) and Griswold v. Connecticut (contraceptive acquisition and use).

A majority of respondents support Congress passing legislation that would codify each of these rights and protections into U.S. law (the total may add up to more than 100% due to rounding):

  • Abortion: 54% support, 38% oppose, 8% not sure.
  • Same-sex sexual activity: 53% support, 35% oppose, 13% not sure.
  • Same-sex marriage: 56% support, 34% oppose, 10% not sure.
  • Interracial marriage: 74% support, 16% oppose, 11% not sure.
  • Contraception: 72% support, 14% oppose, 15% not sure.

Among the demographics analyzed in the report, only Republicans, Trump voters in 2020 and conservatives had a majority who opposed Congress passing laws that protect the right to abortion, same-sex sexual activity and same-sex marriage.

All demographic groups analyzed had a majority of respondents support legislation to protect the right to interracial marriage and contraception.

The topline results are available here. The crosstab results are available here.

The overall margin of error was plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, while the margin of error for registered voters was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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