Most Don't Know Basics About Supreme Court

On the eve of the historic Judiciary Committee hearings on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, a new C-SPAN poll shows that most Americans would flunk a pop quiz on the most basic details of the court.

How is it possible that most Americans know more about how Sarah Palin looks in a pair of waders than about the workings of the high court? It may have a great deal to do with the fact that we've seen Palin's fishing trip on every network, but no cameras of any kind are allowed in the Supreme Court (a restriction that 61 percent of Americans think should change).

But before writing off your countrymen as TV-addicted dummies, take the C-SPAN quiz to see how you would do. Here are five of the questions that most Americans did not know the answer to:

1. How many justices sit on the Supreme Court?

2. Can you name one justice who sits on the Court?

3. Who was the first woman on the Supreme Court?

4. Who has been nominated by President Obama as the next justice on the Supreme Court?

5. How long is the average argument before the Supreme Court?

Here are the answers:

1. 9

2. John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Samuel Alito Jr., John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer.

3. Sandra Day O'Connor

4. Sonia Sotomayor

5. 30 minutes

If you got any of them right, congratulations! You are smarter than the average American. If you missed a few, or if you just want to brush up on your SCOTUS, check out one of our all-time favorite destinations on the web, SCOTUSblog.com.

And don't forget to come back to Politics Daily for our coverage of the Sotomayor hearings, starting Monday.