AP:
CHICAGO — Retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is taking on a new challenge: overseeing a national civics lesson.
Many adults struggle to identify the branches of government _ legislative, executive and judicial _ and explain the concept of separation of powers, according to a new American Bar Association poll.
Michael Greco, a Boston lawyer who takes over as ABA president this week, asked O’Connor and former presidential candidate and Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., to help educate people on the subject. They will be honorary co-chairs of a civic education commission. [K-Lo: Could we get like a Bill Bennett on this commission, too?]
The ABA poll, being released Monday, shows that just over half of adults can correctly identify the branches.
One in five incorrectly said that the three branches were Republican, Democrat and independent, and 16 percent thought the three were local, state and federal.