“What the leak and the draft have in common,” he said, “is a disregard for the legal and public legitimacy of the court — and a failure to register that the justices and their clerks are temporary occupants of an institution that is greater than themselves.”
Even before the impending decision to revisit abortion rights reopened painful national divisions, public faith in the court had deteriorated sharply. A national survey by Pew Research Center conducted early this year found that 54 percent of U.S. adults had a favorable view of the Supreme Court, compared with 65 percent last year.
An overwhelming majority of adults — 84 percent — said the justices should keep their political views out of their judicial decisions, but only 16 percent of that group felt the court did a good or excellent job of it. Over the past three years, Pew found, approval of the court had declined 15 percentage points, reaching its least positive rating in nearly four decades.
A Morning Consult-Politico survey released on Wednesday found that about 66 percent of respondents said they support setting term limits for justices, with about 21 percent disapproving.
Nicole Lamarche, pastor of Community United Church of Christ in Boulder, said on Tuesday that she traced her disillusionment to the Republican senators’ blockade of Mr. Obama’s Supreme Court nominee after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016.
“To me, when they refused to appoint Merrick Garland, or even begin the hearings process, that to me was a sign of a different time,” Ms. Lamarche said.
But the fast and furious appointment of three conservative justices during the Trump administration sent the court veering to the right, with the confirmation of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh in particular deepening divisions.