SCOTUS & Others are Losing Our Trust

It's a dangerous trend but the military suggests a way out

The latest Supreme Court controversy finds Justice Samuel Alito blaming his wife for flying the American flag upside down in a pro-Trump display at their suburban Virginia home. (Trumpers use the symbol to express support for those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.) Justices are discouraged from showing partisan leanings, and so the decoration at Alito’s house flies in the face of the court’s claim to impartiality.

In addition to his flag problem Alito’s reputation was damaged when it was reported that he had accepted a free luxury vacation from billionaire GOP donor Paul Singer, and then sat on cases involving Singer directly. As journalists for ProPublica reported the Alito trip they were also documenting how Justice Clarence Thomas secretly took dozens of vacations paid for by billionaire GOP donors. One of them also paid for one of Thomas’s relatives to attend private school and lent him money to buy a luxury RV.   Thomas didn’t report any of this on his annual financial disclosure forms.    

Polls have shown that public respect for the court is in decline. In 2001, 62 percent of those surveyed approved of the court. In 2023 the number was 41 percent. This shows that an institution once revered for being nonpartisan – Chief Justice John Roberts describes it as “calling balls and strikes” – no longer enjoys such esteem.  What has Roberts done to halt the court’s reputational slide? Nothing of substance. In fact, justices are still permitted to sit on cases where they have a conflict of interest.

The court isn’t alone when it comes to a loss of public esteem. In 1964, a whopping 77 percent of Americans trusted the Congress and executive branch to do the right thing. Today that number is 16 percent. In the last five years, confidence in banks has declined from 49 percent to 38 percent. As measured by attendance, American support for religious organizations has dropped by 30 percent in 20 years. The press hasn’t fared any better. In 2000 more than half of Americans trusted the news media. Today the figure is 34 percent.  Other institutions with declining public support include medicine, public schools, and big business.

In every case, from the court to big business, public trust is essential. Without it, people will lose faith in the fairness in society. It’s no wonder that in general, Americans have less confidence in the future and view the past with nostalgia.  This dissatisfaction, combined with fantasies about the good old days, makes the country ripe for Donald Trump’s fascism, which plays on public insecurity and offers one-man rule, without interference from those pesky institutions.  

As someone who served 12 years in Congress (current approval rate 15 percent) I worked in an institution that was so dysfunctional it deserved a vote of no-confidence. I can also tell you that any improvement in public trust in Congress or any other institution will require that every insider lives up to their responsibilities.  It’s actually very simple.  Elected and appointed officials know they have a duty to act in the public interest. Private organizations cannot be successful if they abuse public trust.

As I lived through Congress’s steady degradation as it slipped behind even the press, which members loved to attack. But during this same time, I served as a pilot in the military, which is respected more than every other government institution. This status was deserved precisely because virtually everyone who served shared a sense of mission and a commitment to duty. Seems like there’s a lesson there.