Topline
Justice Elena Kagan warned Thursday of the risk of the Supreme Court losing “all connection with the public and with public sentiment,” according to Reuters, as the high court struggles with plummeting approval ratings amid a set of controversial rulings.
Then-Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan answers questions from members of the Senate Judiciary … [+]
Key Facts
At a Montana conference for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals covered by Reuters, Kagan told the audience she generally believes if the Supreme Court loses all ties to and trust with the public, “that’s a dangerous thing for a democracy.”
The justice noted she isn’t referring to a specific recent decision by the high court.
Kagan reportedly said justices can build trust by “doing the kinds of things that do not seem to people [to be]
political or partisan,” instead of trying to “enact their own policy or political or social preferences”—a problem Kagan said has dogged the court in the past.
Big Number
25%. That’s the share of Americans who told Gallup last month they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the Supreme Court, an 11-point slide from 2011 and the lowest public confidence level since Gallup started posing the question 49 years ago. Republicans (39%) are far more likely than Democrats (13%) or independents (25%) to express confidence in the high court. Other polls vary: Some 45% of adults told Morning Consult they trust the Supreme Court in an early July tracking poll, down from 57% roughly a year earlier.
Key Background
With its 6-3 conservative majority, the Supreme Court issued a series of contentious decisions this year, capped by its move last month to overturn the 49-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling and let states ban abortion. The decision drew angry rebukes from Democratic politicians and led to protests near the nation’s capital, including outside the homes of some conservative justices. But criticism of the high court predates Roe’s reversal. Longstanding calls for the court to adopt an ethics code grew louder this year following revelations Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife Ginni—a right-wing activist—texted with White House officials about former President Donald Trump’s bid to reverse his election outcome. Democrats have taken aim at the nomination process for two conservative justices: Amy Coney Barrett, who was nominated just weeks before the 2020 election, and Neil Gorsuch, whose nomination early in Trump’s term came after Senate Republicans blocked Barack Obama from filling the seat in the final year of his presidency. And a handful of high-profile leaks have likely dented the court’s reputation, including an unprecedented May leak of a draft of this year’s abortion decision, and a disputed report earlier this year that Gorsuch refused to wear a mask while around his high-risk colleague, Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Contra
Sitting Supreme Court justices have typically defended their colleagues—and bristled at proposals to increase scrutiny of the judicial branch. In recent months, Barrett has insisted “this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks,” recently-retired liberal Justice Stephen Breyer has denied his colleagues are “junior-league politicians” and Sotomayor has called Thomas a friend and a “man who cares deeply about the court as an institution.” Meanwhile, in a December year-end report, Chief Justice John Roberts acknowledged lower court judges could use stronger ethics training but pointed to “the need for the Judiciary to manage its internal affairs,” which some court-watchers saw as a response to congressional pushes for reform.
Further Reading
Public Confidence In Supreme Court Sinks To 25%, Poll Says (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2022/07/21/kagan-says-possible-loss-of-supreme-court-trust-dangerous-thing-for-a-democracy-according-to-report/