Public perception of the judiciary is at a low ebb, at least for our lifetimes. As "public citizen[s] having special responsibility for the quality of justice” lawyers owe a special duty to understand and counteract this unfortunate trend. To do so we need to understand its history and origins. Prof. Barton will present some long-term data to suggest that confidence in America’s judiciary waxes and wanes over time and that in context this challenging period is hardly the worst we’ve faced.

That said, considering previous eras of discontent with the judiciary helps us understand some root causes, some of which are beyond our control, but others which are within our control. Not all criticisms on the American judiciary are without merit. When the US Supreme Court becomes especially active and rises to high salience with the public it is often a time where confidence in that Court falls, but also faith in the judiciary as a whole falls. A more recent issue is America’s growing access to justice crisis, which leads Americans from the middle class to the poor to question the effectiveness of the justice system. So while many attacks on the judiciary are unfounded or unfair, we should not paint with too broad a brush. Sometimes these moments of critique unearth actual issues that need addressing. Perhaps the best way to increase public confidence in the judiciary is to fix some of our underlying problems.

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