Understanding the US Supreme Court’s legitimacy

The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest among scholars and the public in the legitimacy of the US Supreme Court. Advances in theory, measurement, and research design have all expanded our understanding of legitimacy as a concept and the ways in which the behavior of the Court and its justices affect the judiciary’s public standing. In this chapter, we review the recent research on public support for the US Supreme Court with particular attention to its correlates: under what conditions does the public’s support for the Court increase or decrease? We conclude the chapter by discussing new frontiers in this area and present some fruitful paths for new research.