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But the data also shows that since 2021, the court has released a majority of its conservative-only decisions in the final few days of the term. Those unpopular rulings tank average public support by over 10 points.

This pattern seems in line with a strategy to minimize public backlash by having the court announce opinions after the media has already begun to settle on a narrative for the term and right before the July Fourth holiday, when the general public isn't paying as close attention. That approach may pay dividends, at least based on attitudes about potential rulings before they were made: The average net support for the court's rulings at the end of its term is -3 points. While that's not a great number, it's close to even and certainly much higher than support for some of the court's most-publicized recent rulings, like Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization and the presidential immunity case.

This is a new phenomenon, at least when compared to how the court behaved before Justice Amy Coney Barrett's appointment created a 6-3 conservative majority four years ago. In 2020, the court actually released many of its unanimous or close-to-unanimous decisions at the end of the term, and there was no discernible pattern of when the conservative-only opinions were handed down (there were only two that SCOTUSPoll asked about):

This suggests that the justices are aware of how unpopular their rulings have been in recent years and are trying different strategies to minimize backlash — except, of course, for handing down more popular decisions. As Chief Justice John Roberts said in his opinion in the Trump immunity case, \"unlike the political branches and the public at large, the court cannot afford to fixate\" primarily on things like public opinion or the politics of the day.

We'll have to wait a few more weeks to be certain of how the public is reacting to the court's latest rulings. But don't expect the justices to change course anytime soon.

Footnotes

*Defined as a case that was asked about in a SCOTUSPoll.

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