The Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states was a watershed moment in United States history. Whether or not that moment was positive or negative depends on your social and religious beliefs.
As IJReview previously reported, the ruling has caused County clerks to resign in multiple states, and a debate is raging about whether or not the Supreme Court overstepped its bounds.
Now, according to a new Rasmussen poll, American resentment toward SCOTUS is building.
Rasmussen reports:
“33% of Likely U.S. Voters now believe that states should have the right to ignore federal court rulings if their elected officials agree with them. That’s up nine points from 24% when we first asked this question in February. Just over half (52%) disagree, down from 58% in the earlier survey.”
While 33% may not seem like much, a rise of nine points in just a few months is worth noting.
The rise may be in response to what conservatives are calling judicial activism on the part of the Supreme Court. Many conservatives believe that the people should be the arbiters of laws regarding marriage.
This sentiment has bled into the presidential race. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has called for judicial retention elections, which would essentially allow the American people to judge the Supremes every eight years.
However, Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Supreme Court Review believes he has a better answer:
“If we are going to tweak the Supreme Court because it’s not sufficiently responsive to the people, adding an election element isn’t the way to go…If the federal judiciary were to borrow a structural element from the states, I’d go with term limits rather than retention elections.”
The likelihood of anything changing is slim-to-none, but the dramatic rise in American resentment toward SCOTUS could play a big role in upcoming elections.
