C-SPAN: Roe V. Wade Is Best Known Supreme Court Decision

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

According to a poll commissioned by C-SPAN, the three Supreme Court rulings Americans are familiar with are the Roe v. Wade abortion rights case (67%), the Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation case (46%) and the Bush v. Gore (who gets to be President) ballot-counting decision (34%).

C-SPAN released the findings in conjunction with its new series on landmark Supreme Court cases, which debuts Monday, Oct. 5, the first day of oral argument in the new High Court session.

The poll, from Penn Schoen Berland, was of 1,200 adults asked if they were familiar with a list of cases C-SPAN, the majority of which C-SPAN is profiling in the series.

Other cases earning more double-digit familiarity scores were Miranda v. Arizona (reading a suspect their rights before arrest) at 27%, Dred Scott v. Sandford (slavery) at 24% and Marbury v. Madison (judicial review) at 12%.

C-SPAN is a public service funded by cable operators nationwide.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.