Before you attack the Supreme Court, understand its role

SALT LAKE CITY — The Supreme Court has faced more and more criticism over recent years. Public trust in the court is the lowest it’s been in generations.

While Americans are free to disagree with the court, Bill Duncan from the Sutherland Institute tells KSL NewsRadio many of these attacks lack a civic understanding of what the court’s role actually is.

Duncan said the American people often look at the highest court of appeal in the same way they look at the other branches of government. They expect certain results from them and if they don’t get those results, the response is often critical.

“The problem of course is that that’s not the job of the Supreme Court,” he said. “They’re supposed to be the faithful defenders of the written laws, the constitution, of course, but other things too.”

According to Duncan, the press has to do with this attitude towards the Supreme Court.

“What I want to say in defense is that that’s, of course, the way that the press often talks about … these things,” Duncan said. “Why did the Supreme Court do this on abortion, or whatever issue, as if they had the option of doing something different than interpreting the constitution, which is their responsibility.”

He said it’s American’s responsibility to look deeper into Supreme Court rulings.

“I know Supreme Court decisions aren’t everyone’s favorite reading, but we can make probably a little more of an effort to understand exactly what the court said and not just assume that kind of what we’re having described to us … about what the court did is really true,” Duncan said.

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson can be heard on weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

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