The New York Times reports
a recent poll showing the Supreme Court’s approval rating at 44
percent. This represents one of the lowest numbers the justices have
polled in recent years and is part of a generally downward slide since
2009. Over at least the previous twenty-five years the Court has
consistently been one of the more popular institutions in the country.
What’s been going on to change this?
A plausible answer is: partisanship. Polls show a widespread
disgust with partisanship in Washington; Congress’s approval rating was
at an all time low in May. Although the justices often are divided into
left-right ideological blocs, those blocs have recently become
identified in the public mind with the Democratic and Republican
parties. That, combined with a set of cases that bring partisan issues
to the fore, may be leading the public to see the Court as part of the
same Washington politics it deplores.
One reason the justices did so well in the past is that they were typically seen as above politics. Not ideology, politics.
The distinction matters. Ideology is principled, you believe in
something. Politics, on the other hand, is seen these days as devoid of
serious content.
Read on...
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