Why The Supreme Court’s Legit­i­ma­cy Isn’t Defined By Approval Rat­ings

This piece is part of MI x DW, a col­lab­o­ra­tion that brings Dai­ly Wire read­ers exclu­sive com­men­tary and research from the Man­hat­tan Institute’s world-class team of schol­ars.
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As it gets ready to start a new term, the Supreme Court has a polling prob­lem. Gallup report­ed in July that only 33% of Amer­i­cans approve of the job it’s doing, a record low in the 26-year poll. Mar­quette Law School’s sur­vey is less grim but still shows the Court under­wa­ter, with 47% approv­ing and 53% dis­ap­prov­ing.
For advo­cates of Supreme Court “reform,” the temp­ta­tion is obvi­ous: low approval means that the insti­tu­tion has lost legit­i­ma­cy and needs struc­tur­al repair.
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But a clos­er look at Gallup’s polling num­bers knocks down that argu­ment. The decline sinc …