Debate Primer: The Supreme Court
This week, as Political Union begins our 2022-23 debate schedule, we'll tackle the following question—does the US Supreme Court, as an institution, benefit the American people? In recent years, the Supreme Court has faced a legitimacy crisis, with public confidence in the court dropping ever historically lower. Many Americans, especially on the political left, increasingly regard the court's 6-3 conservative majority as systematically imposing their, often unpopular, beliefs instead of fairly interpreting the law. Perhaps the most stunning recent instance of such alleged conservative judicial overreach came this June, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, when the court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the right to abortion nationally, a precedent that had stood for 50 years. Additionally, how the present conservative majority came into being—as a product of shady albeit permitted tactics employed by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, including blocking a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland by President Obama and rushing through the nomination and confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett—has cast further doubt on the legitimacy of the court's decisions in the eyes of the public. Join us on Monday, September 26, to discuss, partially in light of this current legitimacy crisis, whether the Supreme Court, as an institution, ultimately serves the best interests of the American people. In this primer, as always, we’ve compiled a short list of materials you may find helpful in advance of the debate.
First, is a brief article from the Supreme Court website that gives a solid overview of the court's constitutional role [5 minutes].
Some figures on public confidence in the Supreme Court from Gallup [4 minutes].
Next is a piece by NPR explaining that the current Supreme Court is the most conservative in nearly a century [5 minutes].
Also, an article from the American Bar Association discusses threats to judicial independence in the United States, both in lower courts and the Supreme Court [13 minutes].
Finally, a data-driven analysis by FiveThirtyEight details increased polarization among Supreme Court justices [8 minutes].
Now, for some takes!
A policy evaluation from the Brookings Institute considers whether the Supreme Court should be restructured or reformed. If you’re only going to read one thing in the primer, I’d suggest this piece [8 minutes].
An editorial by National Review suggests that the Supreme Court term this summer was uniquely successful, not only in achieving conservative objectives but also in fulfilling the constitutional role of the court [7 minutes].
For a prominent perspective on the issue, read a news article in NPR that details Chief Justice John Robert’s defense of the Supreme Court in the face of declining public confidence [5 minutes].
Lastly, an opinion/analysis piece from the Brennan Center for Justice contends that the Supreme Court faces a legitimacy crisis “of its own making” [5 minutes].
That’s all for this week! We hope to see you at our debate tomorrow night and that you found this primer helpful.
“Supreme Court” by Mark Fischer is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0