Is Anyone Listening? The Politicization of the Judiciary and the Loss of Authority: An Initial Assessment

Much has been written about the decline in the public perception of the U.S. Supreme Court and the judicial branch. Americans believe politics played “too great a role” in the original health care cases surrounding the Affordable Care Act by a greater than two-to one margin. Over sixty percent of Americans express no too little confidence in the Supreme Court. Academics continue to debate how much politics actually influences the Court, but Americans are excessively skeptical. 

The vast majority of Americans fail to know that, on average, almost half of the cases brought before the Supreme Court are decided unanimously, and the Justices’ voting pattern split by the political party of the president to whom they owe their appointment in fewer than seven percent of cases. Why the mistrust? We argue that Americans have increasingly viewed the government as being guided by interests outside of the general good. More specifically, we suggest Americans believe the government is increasingly beholden to specialized, entrenched interests that have corrupted a political system. This is nothing new in relation to Congress and to a lesser extent the Presidency. What is new is that very recently, the distrust shared by Congress and the President has been applied to the courts.