Both Right And Left Have Poor Opinion Of Supreme Court

I thought this was an interesting survey on the U.S. Supreme Court -- especially in light of their recent decision to let lower court decisions stand that declared state bans on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. It is a recent Gallup Poll that was done between September 4th and 7th of a random national sample of 1,017 adults, with a margin of error of 4 points.

Traditionally, the court is viewed as having either a liberal or conservative slant. But this court is different. It is despised by both the right and the left. About 24% of Americans think the court is too conservative, while about 30% say it is too liberal. Those who say it is too liberal (the conservatives) have 70% who disapprove of the job the court is doing. And those who say it is too conservative (the liberals) have 65% who disapprove of the job the court is doing.

And the crazy thing is that both groups have decisions they can point to in support of their belief. The liberals point to several decisions (like Citizens United, voting rights, and campaign donations), and the conservatives point to other decisions (like Obamacare, EPA rules, and now, same-sex marriage). And they are both right. Both had had decisions go against them that they really don't like.

How can it be that the court is almost equally disliked by both the right and left? Is this a moderate court? No, it is not a moderate court. But it is unique in that it has four conservative members, four liberal members, and one maverick. The conservative justices are Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John Roberts -- and they almost always support the right-wing view of any issue (with the notable exception of Roberts deserting his right-wing buddies to vote for Obamacare). The liberal justices are Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan -- and they almost always support the left-wing view of any issue.

That leaves Anthony Kennedy, and he is very hard to pin down. Sometimes he votes for the conservative position, and sometimes he votes for the liberal position. He is a maverick -- and because of that, when an important issue comes before the court neither liberals nor conservatives can feel comfortable that the decision will go their way.

So, is this court liberal or conservative? It is neither. It is a court that is ruled by a maverick. The court won't truly lean either left or right until either the conservative group or the liberal group loses a justice and the other gains one -- and that is very likely to happen before 2020. That makes the senate elections this year and the presidential election in 2016 extremely important -- because the outcome of those elections could well determine whether this court becomes left-leaning or right-leaning (and that has huge implications for our society, our economy, and our democracy).