Trump administration must follow court orders, most Americans say
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
An overwhelming majority of Americans believe the Trump administration should follow court orders, though they don't necessarily believe judges are fair in deciding cases, a Wednesday poll from Pew Research Center found.
The big picture: The administration has already defied court orders in its aggressive push to deport immigrants — often with little or no due process — setting up a constitutional clash between two equal branches of the government.
What they found: Most Americans, 78%, believe the Trump administration would have to stop an action if a federal court deemed it illegal, the poll found.
- An overwhelming majority of Democrats, 91%, agree, as do 65% of Republicans.
- The belief is even stronger, 88%, if the Supreme Court were to issue the ruling, per the poll. That's 95% among Democrats and 82% among Republicans.
Zoom in: While more than nine in 10 Americans say it's extremely or very important for federal judges to be fair and impartial when they decide cases, many are not confident that's the case.
- Only small shares in both parties (17% of Republicans and 14% of Democrats) have a high level of confidence that judges are fair and impartial.
- The Supreme Court's approval remains near historic lows, per Pew. About half of Americans (51%) hold a favorable view of the high court, while nearly as many (47%) view it unfavorably.
Between the lines: The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a wrongly deported Maryland man from El Salvador. But the administration contends that doesn't mean it must return him, even after losing several appeals.
- The administration now faces the possibility of being held in contempt of court.
Zoom out: However, President Trump's immigration stance is among his most popular positions with Americans.
- About half (48%) of respondents expressed confidence in Trump on immigration, making it his highest-rated issue, the poll found.
Yes, but: Some steps like deportations are cited by 11% of Americans as the thing they like least about the administration.
The fine print: The survey was conducted from April 7 to April 13 with a total of 3,589 respondents from a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. The margin of sampling error is ±1.8 percentage points.
Go deeper: Voters sour on Trump's tariffs but favor immigration policies, polls show
