The Supreme Court is facing a legitimacy crisis, with over half of Americans disapproving of the way it’s handling its job. What caused this decline, and can reforms restore its credibility?
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00:00Now it's time to let him speak!
00:02The Supreme Court in recent years has suffered not only from low public opinion,
00:06but a wave of ethical issues that have shattered trust in the body.
00:10The right-wing justices on the Supreme Court are completely and totally out of control.
00:15The most recent Gallup poll, taken in July 2024,
00:19showed that the court had a 52% disapproval rating, while 43% of respondents approved.
00:25This was a stark contrast with a poll taken in July 2020,
00:29which showed that the court at the time had a 58% approval rating, with 38% disapproving.
00:35Some have called for the removal or resignation of justices from the court,
00:39and some also want to expand the size of the court.
00:42But how would these things work?
00:44I'm John Dorman, and I'm a senior politics reporter at Business Insider.
00:48The Supreme Court was established in the U.S. Constitution.
00:51It doesn't specify how many justices can serve, and that number can be changed by Congress.
00:56But the Judiciary Act of 1869 set the number of justices at nine,
01:00a chief justice and eight associate justices.
01:04Since then, the nomination process has become more polarized in recent years.
01:08Supreme Court nominees like Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
01:12and John Roberts were easily confirmed with bipartisan support.
01:15The ayes are 78, the nays are 22.
01:18The nomination of John G. Roberts, Jr. of Maryland
01:22to be chief justice of the United States is confirmed.
01:25But the votes for nominees have now become an ideological litmus test.
01:28This division is really a reflection of the partisanship within Congress,
01:32which has reached a fever pitch.
01:35Lots of senators have also run for president or are thinking of running,
01:38and the Supreme Court has become the perfect institution to exert ideological influence.
01:43The court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade
01:47also hardened many feelings about the institution.
01:50It's out there!
01:51But it's not just legal decisions that are being questioned by the public in recent years.
01:56It's also the personal ethics of justices.
01:58The most famous example is Clarence Thomas,
02:01who faced heavy criticism after ProPublica in April 2023 published a bombshell report
02:07detailing how for years he had taken luxury vacations
02:11funded by the billionaire mega-donor Harlan Crowe and had not disclosed the trips.
02:15Thomas said at the time that he was advised that it
02:18wasn't necessary to report, quote,
02:21this sort of personal hospitality, end quote.
02:24But he said he'd adhere to the new guidelines set forth
02:26by the Judicial Conference of the United States.
02:29Before that, Thomas came under intense scrutiny as his wife,
02:33conservative activist Jenny Thomas,
02:35was involved in the push to overturn Biden's 2020 victory.
02:39She was even interviewed by this January 6th committee.
02:43Samuel Alito has also been in the spotlight.
02:46The New York Times reported that an upside-down American flag
02:49was observed flying outside of Alito's home
02:52after the January 6th, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
02:56The flag's direction is widely seen as a message of support
03:00for Trump's push to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
03:04Alito responded by saying that his wife was responsible for the flag's placement
03:08and he rejected the notion that he'd recuse himself
03:11from January 6th-related cases.
03:13Given these developments, the court's standing has fallen
03:17in the eyes of many Americans.
03:18Despite that, are these justices untouchable
03:22or can they be removed from the court?
03:24To impeach a Supreme Court justice,
03:26a member of the House would introduce articles of impeachment,
03:30but a two-thirds majority would be needed to convict and remove a justice,
03:33a virtually unrealistic proposition in today's closely divided Congress.
03:37To be clear, no Supreme Court justice has ever been successfully removed.
03:41Democrats in Congress are trying to institute some form of ethics
03:45with the Supreme Court.
03:46President Biden has even laid out a proposal
03:48that would create 18-year term limits for justices,
03:51institute a binding code of conduct for justices,
03:54and he wants lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment
03:56that would limit presidential immunity.
03:58And he's also heavily criticized the overturn of Roe v. Wade
04:02and the ruling that essentially in the affirmative action
04:04in college admissions.
04:06We won't go back!
04:07Harris has backed Biden's reforms,
04:10saying there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court.
04:13And there's another proposal from Oregon Senator Ron Wyden.
04:17He introduced a bill recently in the Senate
04:20that would increase the number of justices on the court
04:22from nine to 15 over 12 years.
04:24It would direct the IRS to audit justices every year.
04:28It would also mandate that Supreme Court nominees
04:30release three years of tax returns
04:33and it would allow a two-thirds vote among justices
04:35for a justice to recuse themselves from a case.
04:37But the proposals have little chance of passing,
04:40even in the current Democratic-controlled Senate.
04:42Republicans, who see the conservative majority on the court
04:46as the fruit of their decades of labor
04:48in prioritizing the Supreme Court,
04:50see Democratic attempts at reforms as a power grab.
04:53Mitch McConnell, the architect of the GOP roadmap
04:56to transform the court,
04:57blocked the Mira Garland pick for most of 2016,
05:01which paved the way for Trump to nominate Neil Gorsuch.
05:04But Democrats have not forgotten about it
05:06and they're still upset over the move.
05:08But at the time, they were powerless to stop it.