The Left’s Attacks on the Court’s ‘Legitimacy’ Have Stopped Making Sense

It was said time and again in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that the Court had sacrificed its “legitimacy” by overturning the popular precedents of Roe and Casey.

Those who posed as the most concerned about the Court’s “legitimacy” retailed the idea that the institution’s failure to defer to public opinion was de facto evidence of its ideological corruption. This “deeply unpopular, society-changing ruling” was only a symptom of how the “institution’s credibility and legitimacy has suffered so greatly,” wrote MSNBC’s Steve Benen.” Vox’s Ian Millhiser appeared to agree. “The Dobbs decision is the culmination of a decades-long effort by Republicans to capture the Supreme Court and use it,” he wrote, “not just to undercut abortion rights but also to implement an unpopular agenda they cannot implement through the democratic process.” The cause of the Court’s “unpopularity is no secret,” the New York Times editorial board opined. “Over the past several years, the court has been transformed into a judicial arm of the Republican Party.” As a result, “the court’s legitimacy has been squandered in the service of partisan victories.”

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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It was said time and again in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that the Court had sacrificed its “legitimacy” by overturning the popular precedents of Roe and Casey.

Those who posed as the most concerned about the Court’s “legitimacy” retailed the idea that the institution’s failure to defer to public opinion was de facto evidence of its ideological corruption. This “deeply unpopular, society-changing ruling” was only a symptom of how the “institution’s credibility and legitimacy has suffered so greatly,” wrote MSNBC’s Steve Benen.” Vox’s Ian Millhiser appeared to agree. “The Dobbs decision is the culmination of a decades-long effort by Republicans to capture the Supreme Court and use it,” he wrote, “not just to undercut abortion rights but also to implement an unpopular agenda they cannot implement through the democratic process.” The cause of the Court’s “unpopularity is no secret,” the New York Times editorial board opined. “Over the past several years, the court has been transformed into a judicial arm of the Republican Party.” As a result, “the court’s legitimacy has been squandered in the service of partisan victories.”

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.