The U.S. Supreme Court has figured prominently and controversially in the news recently. In addition to decisions limiting states’ control over gun safety while expanding states’ power over women’s reproductive rights, the court has broken down long-standing barriers between separation of church and state by authorizing public funding of private religious education.
A person might suggest this range of controversial rulings — generally overthrowing long-established precedents and legal principles — has transformed this Supreme Court into the “Extreme Court.”
A consequence of these rulings has been a dramatic drop in public opinion of the nation’s highest court into previously uncharted territory. A recent Gallup Poll revealed only 25% of the public expressed “a great deal” of confidence in the current court and its actions.
