“If, over time, the court loses all connection with the public and with public sentiment, that is a dangerous thing for democracy.”.The thing that builds up reservoirs of public confidence is the court acting like a court and not acting like an extension of the political process.” “The very worst moments have been times when judges have even essentially reflected one party’s or one ideology’s set of views in their legal decisions.Key quotes from Kagan at recent events in Rhode Island and Montana, respectively:

The WSJ’s Jess Bravin documents how Justice ELENA KAGAN and Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS have sparred over the legitimacy issue during public appearances this summer. The justices themselves are well-aware of their diminished standing. The Supreme Court has long been one of the few major institutions in America to survive with relatively high levels of bipartisan approval, but voters’ views of SCOTUS now more closely track the polarized views of Congress, the president and the media. Two more findings: (1) “The new Gallup poll also finds a record-tying-low of Americans saying they approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing.” (2) “Meanwhile, a record high percentage of Americans say the Supreme Court is ‘too conservative.’”.The new poll marks the first time that less than half of Democrats and independents express faith in the judicial branch.”

What’s driving it: “The drop in trust … is driven largely by a sharp decline among Democrats, whose level of trust is half of what it was one year ago.

The judicial branch's current tarnished image contrasts with trust levels exceeding two-thirds in most years in Gallup's trend since 1972.”

The historic trend: “This is the lowest confidence rating for the judicial branch in Gallup's trend by six points.

The topline: “Less than half of Americans say they have ‘a great deal’ or ‘a fair amount’ of trust in the judicial branch of the federal government, representing a 20-percentage-point drop from two years ago, including seven points since last year.”.

Gallup previewed some of the key findings for Playbook:

TRUST IN JUDICIAL BRANCH PLUMMETS - A new Gallup poll set for release today shows a drop in approval of and confidence in the Supreme Court. A net gain of 20 seats this fall would give Republicans 233 - the GOP had 230 in 1995 when Newt Gingrich was elected speaker.” (He’ll offer a Senate prediction next week.) But that’s partly because the GOP got a head start in 2020 by picking up 14 House seats. Republicans are likely to gain closer to 20 than 25. ROVE’S HOUSE PREDICTION - KARL ROVE in the WSJ: “The red wave will likely generate a smaller midterm swing than the average, which since 1934 has been 28 House seats. HURRICANE IAN LATEST - AP: “People trapped, 2M without power after Ian swamps SW Florida”: “One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States barreled across the Florida peninsula overnight Wednesday, threatening catastrophic flooding inland, the National Hurricane Center warned.” OVERNIGHT - WaPo: “Harris visits DMZ after North Korean missile tests” In an unusual and rare statement, Justice Samuel Alito, author of the Dobbs decision that has driven down the Court’s approval, directly responded to Elena Kagan’s critiques (without naming her).

Easy writer a pocket reference