The Nation - News from Aug. 11, 1986

A majority of Americans said Supreme Court justices should be picked by the voters instead of the President, a poll found. The survey, released by the National Law Journal at the American Bar Assn.’s convention in New York, reported that 59% of the 1,004 respondents said high court justices should be elected, compared to 39% who thought they should be appointed and 2% who didn’t know. The survey found there is little awareness of how the Supreme Court operates or who its members are: 59% said they did not know who William H. Rehnquist is, despite his well-publicized nomination to replace retiring Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. The poll also found that lawyers do not get much respect--only 12% of those responding said they would recommend a law career to their children.