 Biden is attacking the legitimacy of the court because he doesn't like the particular verdicts. That's that's all there is to it So I want to talk about the legitimacy of the court the Supreme Court as an institution interestingly While responding to questions about the affirmative action ruling President Biden was asked has You know that the Congressional Black Court Caucus said the Supreme Court by virtue of its affirmative action Ruling has thrown into question its own legitimacy President Biden was asked is this a rogue court and The president answered this is not a normal court and I just want to point out also at the same time the Supreme Court job Approval this is from last year at Gallup It's the most recent that I could find but it has seen a fairly precipitous drop over the past couple of years Down to 40% of people saying that they approve it if you go to other Gallup records just to give a sense of this 25% of people say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the Supreme Court and that's down from 45% In 1973 Wally if I can go to you first, you know Is this a normal court? Is this a legitimate court? Are these questions? We should be seriously considering what the court did in particular in these two cases was Telegraphed I would argue 20 or 25 years ago in earlier cases and in fact of all the things the court has done this year The results in these two cases were among the most predictable and would have happened Had there been some president other than Trump for example, they They were not considered close cases by the majority and so forth now Is the court legitimate? You know interesting question in which you have seen I Would argue a number of forces attacking the courts legitimacy including both a bunch of people on the left who Combined being sore at outcomes of cases we can all go through the ones there But with also being sore procedurally at the various confirmation battles, which you know I agree that you know Congress has disgraced itself or the Senate has disgraced itself at the various times in its conduct But they they are sore about particular vacancies that they believe should have gone to democratic appointees and then on the The Maga side we all know what Trump thinks of the legitimacy of courts Which is he calls them so-called judges if they will against him Yeah, so see you have as part of the general Polarization you have this and other institutions That are the subject of more Demonization and delegitimization campaigns you could we could go on all day about the pluses and minuses of that There are libertarians who'd say good no confidence in government institutions I'm the other kind of Costco liberal who thinks no we're courting dangers if we undercut institutions That we may only do rely on yeah, and just to put the court decline from 45 percent people having a A great deal or quite a lot of confidence and trust in in the institution of the Supreme Court down 45 percent Or down to 25 percent from 45 percent in 1973 Congress in 1973 had a confidence rating of 42 percent that's down to 7 percent and the presidency is down from 52 percent 75 which was the first year that Gallup asked down to 23 percent So in a way the court is mirroring the same kind of decline we see in the other branches of government Coleman What about you? What do you think? I mean should we be worried about these kind of broad-based attacks on the? Legitimacy of the court is there something to be worried about Well, yeah, I mean I think the truth is Biden is attacking the legitimacy of the court because he doesn't like the particular verdicts. That's that's all there is to it There's nothing in the Jewish jurisprudence of these decisions that calls into question the the soundness of mind of Supreme Court justices and Biden and you know Democrats and Liberals in general have had no calms with the legitimacy of the court on the voting rights Cases that have come out in the past month Two of which have gone towards what would be characterized usually as sort of the liberal position one in Alabama and one with federal oversight of State legislatures in general So obviously this is just you know, this is a political attack. This is this should not actually be taken seriously I think the court is legitimate and And it's important from a separation of powers perspective that it continued to be seen as such the Supreme Court's You know positive approval ratings have dipped You know as I was saying 25% of people according to Gallup have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in it. It's down from 45% In 1973 which is what 50 years ago? You know and it's it's in lockstep with other declines But is there anything that the Supreme Court can do going forward to kind of restore? It sends a you know restore confidence in in that it is working through these things in the way that it's supposed to as opposed to And kind of cheap political ways Big question and part of it is how well they explain themselves part of it is When justice is dissent whether they do so in language that undercuts legitimacy of the majority or vice versa and part of it is Process that you certainly can see if you look up close to the cases that the court takes and how they decide them Which is that although they are not swayed by public opinion to do things they wouldn't do Affirmatively they will sometimes duck cases and rule narrowly for fear of being demonized again By some of the same groups that are just waiting to demonize them. I find that unhealthy. I will say Looking back over the last few years the courts have been one of the few institutions the federal courts in particular That actually have done what they needed to during potential constitutional crisis You know, they were the ones who turned down all the frivolous election suits and I worry that Snipping at them for short-term gain over various issues that they decide means that the public Support will not be there when they need to make a perhaps unpopular decision Upholding the right side in an election dispute that was an excerpt from our reason live stream with Walter Olsen of the Cato Institute And Coleman Hughes talking about recent court decisions dealing with affirmative action and whether or not website operators had to serve gay Couples if you want to see another excerpt go here if you want to see the full thing and you should go here You