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Supreme Court ideology continues to lean conservative, new data shows

Data: Martin-Quinn scores; Note: 2005 term refers to the median justice score after Justice Samuel Alito joined the court; Chart: Simran Parwani/Axios

The Supreme Court continued to lean conservative during its most recent term, according to preliminary data.

Why it matters: After overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, the court continued to push American law toward the right — including in its historic decisions last week on affirmative action and gay rights.


Driving the news: Preliminary data following a contentious 2022-23 Supreme Court term shows Justice Brett Kavanaugh remained the court's "median justice."

  • That means the court is conservative enough that its center falls squarely on the right.
  • Justice Samuel Alito became the court's most conservative member, surpassing Justice Clarence Thomas for the first time since both have served on the high court.

How it works: The "Martin-Quinn score," developed by Andrew D. Martin of Washington University in St. Louis and Kevin Quinn of Emory University, measures the ideology of Supreme Court justices dating back to 1937.

  • The score is calculated using data from each Supreme Court term and measured on an "ideological continuum."
  • The current estimates are preliminary, and final versions of the scores will be available later in the summer.

Details: In her first term on the court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was on the liberal side, but less so than justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.

  • Historically, the court's most conservative median justice was Byron White in 1988, with a Martin-Quinn score of 1.096, compared with Kavanaugh's 0.524 this term.

The big picture: The recent term also saw wins for voting rights, including the justices deciding that states' election laws can be challenged in court and striking down a Republican-drawn congressional map in Alabama.

Go deeper: The political leanings of the Supreme Court justices

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