Race and Allegiance to the U.S. Supreme Court: Withering Institutional Support Among Black Americans in the Post- Dobbs Era

Abstract

Scholars have been quick to try to assess the consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court’s monumental ruling abrogating abortion rights in the U.S. (Dobbs), with several studies showing that the decision seems to have ushered in a new era of significantly diminished support for the Court. But important issues remain unresolved. Perhaps most important, how have racial minorities, especially African Americans, been affected by the Court’s ruling? Based on an unusually large and representative subsample of African Americans, I discover that a substantial proportion of Black people extend remarkably little legitimacy to the U.S. Supreme Court after Dobbs. Some of the difference between Black and White people seems to be associated with the abortion ruling (as I carefully document), but another portion has to do with much lower levels of support of the Court before Dobbs, and with weaker attachments to legitimacy-enhancing democratic values. I conclude that studies of the attitudes and values of minorities, while important in and of themselves, can also help researchers understand more general processes by which citizens update their institutional attitudes.