{"id":8081,"date":"2022-06-11T12:43:42","date_gmt":"2022-06-11T12:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=8081"},"modified":"2022-06-11T12:43:42","modified_gmt":"2022-06-11T12:43:42","slug":"what-happens-when-the-public-loses-faith-in-the-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=8081","title":{"rendered":"What happens when the public loses faith in the Supreme Court?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Constitutionally speaking, the Court does not have the hard authority of the presidency or Congress. It cannot deploy the military or cut off funding for a program. It can order others to take actions, but these orders only hold force if the other branches and state governments believe they have to follow them. The Court\u2019s power depends onitslegitimacy \u2014<\/em> on a widespread belief, among both citizens and politicians, that following its orders is the right and necessary thing to do.”
…
“Justice Samuel Alito\u2019s leaked draft opinion that would overrule Roe v. Wade<\/em><\/a>, if issued, could be yet another significant blow to Court legitimacy. The issue is not just that a majority of Americans will disagree with the ruling, though they almost certainly will<\/a>. It\u2019s that the process that led to this outcome has repeatedly exposed the Court as a vessel for politics by other means.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that context, a reversal of what is probably the most contentious modern Supreme Court ruling \u2014 which established a 50-year precedent with longstanding majority support<\/a> \u2014 will hit differently than previous controversial Court rulings. The damage could be severe and lasting, worse even than nakedly political decisions like Bush v. Gore<\/em>.While it may be tempting to cheer the collapse of the Court\u2019s legitimacy<\/a> given its track record, the Worcester<\/em> case should give us some pause. In the American system, for better or for worse, the Court is supposed to serve as the final arbiter of political disagreements. If it lacks the legitimacy to play that role, it sets the stage for a constitutional crisis \u2014 especially if former President Donald Trump runs again in 2024.”   
…
“since 2016, Republicans have taken a series of steps that have made it hard for anyone to see the Court as standing above politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell infamously refused to even schedule hearings for Obama\u2019s replacement nominee, current Attorney General Merrick Garland, until after the 2016 election. McConnell\u2019s argument was that no justice should be appointed in an election year<\/a>, but the rationale was clearly political: Garland is a moderate liberal and would have tipped the Court from a 5-4 conservative majority to a 5-4 liberal one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Donald Trump won the 2016 election despite losing the popular vote and proceeded to remake the Court along McConnell\u2019s preferred lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, he appointed staunch conservative Neil Gorsuch to the Court instead of Garland \u2014 preserving a 5-4 conservative majority on the court. Then longtime Republican operative<\/a> Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed amid a furious battle over Christine Blasey Ford\u2019s allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her<\/a>, one of the most bitter and polarizing hearings in Supreme Court history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when Justice Ginsburg died in September 2020, McConnell and Trump rushed Amy Coney Barrett onto the Court before the 2020 vote \u2014 giving conservatives a 6-3 advantage, and revealing the alleged principle behind the Garland blockade to be a partisan fiction. (McConnell\u2019s attempt to square this circle, citing an alleged norm against the Senate confirming nominations from opposite-party presidents in election years, was risible<\/a>.)”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“the Court itself hasn\u2019t helped matters. Since the Trump appointments, the Court\u2019s jurisprudence has lurched hard right<\/a>. Chief Justice John Roberts, seemingly the sole conservative concerned with the Court\u2019s above-politics reputation, can no longer join four liberals to rein in his colleagues\u2019 policy ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the context in which Alito\u2019s\u00a0Roe\u00a0<\/em>draftopinion emerged. Much of the concerns about the opinion\u2019s effect on legitimacy have focused on\u00a0the leak of the draft<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 on how it makes the Supreme Court look like any other Washington institution. But this is inside baseball: The\u00a0much bigger effect<\/a>\u00a0on Court legitimacy is more likely to come from the ruling itself, if it in fact becomes law.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/23055620\/supreme-court-legitimacy-crisis-abortion-roe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Constitutionally speaking, the Court does not have the hard authority of the presidency or Congress. It cannot deploy the military or cut off funding for a program. It can order others to take actions, but these orders only hold force if the other branches and state governments believe they have to follow them. The Court\u2019s power depends on its legitimacy \u2014 on a widespread belief, among both citizens and politicians, that following its orders is the right and necessary thing to do.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Justice Samuel Alito\u2019s leaked draft opinion that would overrule Roe v. Wade, if issued, could be yet another significant blow to Court legitimacy. The issue is not just that a majority of Americans will disagree with the ruling, though they almost certainly will. It\u2019s that the process that led to this outcome has repeatedly exposed the Court as a vessel for politics by other means.<\/p>\n

In that context, a reversal of what is probably the most contentious modern Supreme Court ruling \u2014 which established a 50-year precedent with longstanding majority support \u2014 will hit differently than previous controversial Court rulings. The damage could be severe and lasting, worse even than nakedly political decisions like Bush v. Gore.<\/p>\n

While it may be tempting to cheer the collapse of the Court\u2019s legitimacy given its track record, the Worcester case should give us some pause. In the American system, for better or for worse, the Court is supposed to serve as the final arbiter of political disagreements. If it lacks the legitimacy to play that role, it sets the stage for a constitutional crisis \u2014 especially if former President Donald Trump runs again in 2024.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“since 2016, Republicans have taken a series of steps that have made it hard for anyone to see the Court as standing above politics.
\nWhen Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell infamously refused to even schedule hearings for Obama\u2019s replacement nominee, current Attorney General Merrick Garland, until after the 2016 election. McConnell\u2019s argument was that no justice should be appointed in an election year, but the rationale was clearly political: Garland is a moderate liberal and would have tipped the Court from a 5-4 conservative majority to a 5-4 liberal one.<\/p>\n

Then Donald Trump won the 2016 election despite losing the popular vote and proceeded to remake the Court along McConnell\u2019s preferred lines.<\/p>\n

First, he appointed staunch conservative Neil Gorsuch to the Court instead of Garland \u2014 preserving a 5-4 conservative majority on the court. Then longtime Republican operative Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed amid a furious battle over Christine Blasey Ford\u2019s allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, one of the most bitter and polarizing hearings in Supreme Court history.<\/p>\n

And when Justice Ginsburg died in September 2020, McConnell and Trump rushed Amy Coney Barrett onto the Court before the 2020 vote \u2014 giving conservatives a 6-3 advantage, and revealing the alleged principle behind the Garland blockade to be a partisan fiction. (McConnell\u2019s attempt to square this circle, citing an alleged norm against the Senate confirming nominations from opposite-party presidents in election years, was risible.)”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“the Court itself hasn\u2019t helped matters. Since the Trump appointments, the Court\u2019s jurisprudence has lurched hard right. Chief Justice John Roberts, seemingly the sole conservative concerned with the Court\u2019s above-politics reputation, can no longer join four liberals to rein in his colleagues\u2019 policy ambitions.<\/p>\n

This is the context in which Alito\u2019s Roe draft opinion emerged. Much of the concerns about the opinion\u2019s effect on legitimacy have focused on the leak of the draft \u2014 on how it makes the Supreme Court look like any other Washington institution. But this is inside baseball: The much bigger effect on Court legitimacy is more likely to come from the ruling itself, if it in fact becomes law.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[790,1213,12,528],"class_list":["post-8081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-courts","tag-judiciary","tag-opinion","tag-supreme-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8082,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8081\/revisions\/8082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}