The Supreme Court solely relies faith in the court to enforce their decisions. They have no army, only 9 justices who try their best to interpret a 200 year old document. Faith in the court has been shaken according to Gallup. Since the controversial decision in June 2022, confidence in the court has dropped dramatically. This Poll is performed annually and shows a 11% drop from 2021 to 2022. The drop means that only 25 percent of Americans have a high confidence in the court.
Majority of government organizations as of late have experienced a drop in confidence as of late due to many factors, but the falling confidence in the Supreme Court is concerning because it is double what most other organizations are experiencing. The sharp drop is caused very clearly by the controversial Dobbs 2022 case which overturned the ruling of Roe v. Wade. Dobbs should have split the population in half. According to Pew Research Center, The court has not gained enough favor with those for the decision to cushion the disapproval of those against the decision. Traditionally Democrats believe in legal abortion so overturning Roe v. Wade would anger them. Democrats also traditionally place more trust in the government. Meanwhile, your traditional Republican would approve of the Dobbs decision while also being less trusting of the government as a whole. Ultimately whether the decision was right or wrong the court alienated those who placed more trust in government while gaining little affection from traditional Republicans. Very clearly the court made a decision that any other government official could not have made for fear of not being reelected. The Supreme Court does not suffer this issue because they are less subject to the public but still require it to enforce their decisions.
The next question is how does the court rebuild their reputation? The supreme court legitimacy stands on the shoulders of Justices that come before. The trust in the court will naturally increase over time as we move further from the decision because flared tempers will have cooled off. Also as all the realities of the decision settle people should become more favorable to the Court. Many people will come to realize that nothing changes in their daily lives because many states will maintain their abortion laws. Other than the natural rebuilding of their reputation, having a solid and understandable decision should provide them with more sympathy. The dissenting opinion, concurring opinion and majority opinions should enhance the courts perception because most of the time if you can explain your reasoning then people have more sympathy toward you. The biggest key is going to be proving that the decision was not a "Republican decision" but a decision based on the constitution and American fundamentals.
Personally believing in the court's decision did not change my trust in the court. Many who think like me believe that Roe v. Wade should have never happened. For many republican it is a little late for the Supreme court to make the right choice. In 2019 alone 629,898 abortion were carried out in the US alone according to the CDC. That is 629,898 lives lost in minds of Republican that were courts allowed to die indirectly caused by the courts. Because of the death toll, Republicans feel justified in their anger about the situation. Most Republicans see the government as inherently corrupt therefore fewer of them are going to favor the Supreme Court anyway. This is what makes the court different than any other body in our government, the fact that they do act based on public opinion but need the public's trust to enforce decisions. They don't have to have Republican support or democratic support only 5 out of 9 justices are necessary. As long as they can hold a reputation of honesty and strong decision making they can stand as a powerful body of government
In general the courts public approval is tanked by the recent decision because they could not win back those who they had hurt by permitting abortion. They also further alienated those who would support abortion rights. While abortion does not always fall down party line this feels like a victory for the Republican party which is why the statements will be crucial to proving the decision is based on the constitution and facts. If done improperly this can be seen as another self inflict wound similar to Dred v. Scott. The court has alot to rebuild but given time and solid guidance the American people will come to trust the court again.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/images/2021_Roberts_Court_Formal_131209_Web2.jpg
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/06/majority-of-public-disapproves-of-supreme-courts-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/
https://news.gallup.com/poll/394103/confidence-supreme-court-sinks-historic-low.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment