Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan spoke out about the legitimacy of the court, suggesting justices are causing issues by being too political.
CNN reported on Kagan’s appearance at Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker Center for a discussion with Judge Alison J. Nathan.
“I think judges create legitimacy problems for themselves — undermine their legitimacy — when they don’t act so much like courts and when they don’t do things that are recognizably law,” she said on Monday.
Kagan continued, “And when they instead stray into places where it looks like they are an extension of the political process or where they are imposing their own personal preferences.”
The outlet noted Kagan’s comments contrasted those of Chief Justice John Roberts.
On Friday, Roberts said he did not understand the link “between opinions that people disagree with and the legitimacy of the court.”
He added, “You don’t want public opinion to be the guide of what the appropriate decision is.”
Others expressed their concerns with the court’s legitimacy after it decided to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told ABC News after the decision, “They have burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had … They just took the last of it and set a torch to it with the Roe v. Wade opinion.”
Earlier last month, a Gallup poll found the court’s approval rating dropped to 13% among Democrats.
However, it went up for Republicans.
The poll found 74% of Republicans approved of the court’s performance at that time.
The poll was conducted from July 5 to 26 and surveyed 1,013 adults.
Kagan commented on the leak of the draft opinion showing the court would overturn the decision, calling it “horrible.”
“I don’t know anything. I suspect my colleagues don’t know anything, except for the chief justice maybe, about what the investigation has turned up if anything,” Kagan said.
