There has seldom been a Court so sure of itself relative to the political branches of the federal government. Perhaps that comes from the narrowness of the justices’ experience with those branches. In contrast to the Court that decided Brown v. Board of Education—which boasted a former governor, several former members of Congress, and a number of high executive-branch officials—today’s Court is far less diverse when it comes to government experience (even if it is more diverse with respect to race and gender). Not a single member of the current Court has been elected to public office. Before Justice Elena Kagan’s appointment, every sitting justice had come directly from a federal court of appeals. John Roberts, the current chief justice, likes it that way; in 2009 he claimed this judicial background meant the Court’s “method of analysis and argument [has] shifted to the more solid grounds of legal arguments” and away from “a policy perspective.”"
Opinion: Ten Years After Bush v. Gore. The Supreme Court too sure of itself?
Boston Review:
