Courts

Of Course The Supreme Court's Approval Is In The Tank

The right honestly doesn't care.

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Leaked Report Indicates Supreme Court Set To Overturn Roe v. Wade

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Ever since the Supreme Court’s draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health got leaked, there’s been a lot of talk about the crisis facing the judicial branch of the U.S. government. After all, you don’t get to overturn 50 years’ worth of precedent — after explicitly saying the opposite during confirmation hearings — gutting reproductive freedom in the process without taking a reputational hit.

Of course, Supreme Court justices with their lifetime tenure, and the practically zero chance of serious reform actually seeing the light of day, have the luxury of ignoring everybody.

Tony Stark Eye Roll meme

But it is certainly worth noting that America sees the bullshit the Court is pulling and is none too happy. According to a Marquette Law School Poll national survey taken shortly after the Dobbs leak, only 44% of respondents approve of how the Court is handing its job, with 55% disapproving. This is a turn from March numbers, which showed a 54% approval rate. But it is part of a larger downward trend that dates back to September 2021… right after the Court’s shadow docket allowed the restrictive Texas anti-abortion law — SB8 — complete with its controversial bequeathing of enforcement to private citizens.

Approval dropped sharply in September 2021 after the Court earlier that month rejected a request to block enforcement of a Texas law, known as S.B. 8, which bans most abortions after cardiac activity can be detected, at around six weeks of pregnancy. Since September, approval had recovered about five percentage points, prior to this May decline.

But as disturbing as most may view this trend, there’s no accountability to be had. Hell, the battle for even the most basic of ethics rules for the Court remains uncertain. It’s much more likely that the far right of the Court consider these numbers a badge of honor and will cite them in the victory lap — in front of sympathetic audiences, natch — they’ll inevitably make once Roe v. Wade is overturned. After all, this is only the first step in their inevitable plan to gut privacy rights and so much more.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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