The Supreme Court's approval rating increased from a low point of 38% to 44%, according to a new poll from Marquette University Law School, The Hill reported.
The rating had previously dropped to 38% in a July poll conducted after the controversial overturning of Roe v. Wade in June.
The court is viewed along partisan lines, with 70% of Republicans approving, but only 28% of Democrats and 40% of independents.
A plurality of 36% said they believe the court is somewhat conservative, while 32% said it is moderate, according to the poll. A quarter said the court is very conservative, while only 8% said it is somewhat liberal or very liberal.
The Supreme Court has been mired in controversy recently after a New York Times report that the former leader of an evangelical organization learned of the court's ruling in a 2014 case before the decision was released. The Rev. Rob Schenck alleges that a donor to his organization had dinner with Justice Samuel Alito and his wife and called Schenck to share the information after the meal, The Hill reported.
Alito has denied the report.
Part of the Marquette poll was conducted before the report about the 2014 case emerged, The Hill notes.
Adding to the controversy, a draft opinion of the court's ruling in the Dobbs decision overturning abortion leaked a few weeks before it was published.
"Both court decisions were triumphs for conservatives and the religious right," The New York Times reported. Both majority opinions were written by Alito.
Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts have defended the court's legitimacy amid questions that arose following that leak and the court's eventual ruling, The Hill noted.
The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Schenck's allegation creates an unusual, contentious situation: a minister who spent years at the center of the anti-abortion movement, now turned whistle-blower; a denial by a sitting justice; and an institution that shows little outward sign of getting to the bottom of the recent leak of the abortion ruling or of following up on Mr. Schenck's allegation."
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