Supreme Court Under Scrutiny: Slate Launches “Popular Constitutionalism” Series

In July 2026 Slate published a special end-of-term series urging the American public to confront the Supreme Court’s expanding power. The series frames the Court as an “unelected, life-tenured juristocracy” that has, in recent terms, limited legislative authority, reduced lower-court oversight of presidential actions, and narrowed voter access. The articles and accompanying podcast ask citizens to imagine reforms such as binding ethics rules, enforceable disclosure and recusal standards, term or age limits, and constrained jurisdiction.

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Slate’s narrative links the current discontent to a succession of landmark rulings:

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• Citizens United (2010) – opened the “spigot” for large-scale political spending under free-speech claims.

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• Shelby County v. Holder (2013) – struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, citing “state dignity.”

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• District of Columbia v. Heller – broadened the Second Amendment’s scope.

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• Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a half-century of federal abortion protection.

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• Recent “major questions” and “Chevron-doctrine” reversals have limited the Biden administration’s regulatory agenda, while the Court’s “shadow docket” and Jan. 6 immunity decision have further fueled criticism.

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These rulings, according to Slate, have left the public with “less liberty and justice for all” than previous generations.

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• Chief Justice John Roberts and the “Roberts Six” – the current conservative majority cited as systematically reducing congressional power and voter access.

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• Donald Trump – referenced as an example of a leader who “convince[d] himself that the law is his feelings.”

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• Slate authors and podcast hosts – presenting the series as a “provocation” and a “thought experiment” in popular constitutionalism.

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• “No Kings” protesters – citizens who have demonstrated against ICE raids, on the Court’s steps, and in local communities, embodying the series’ call for grassroots engagement.

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• The Supreme Court presently consists of six justices aligned with Chief Justice Roberts, a configuration Slate describes as the “Roberts Six.”

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Slate argues that the Court’s unchecked authority threatens representative constitutional democracy by:

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• Undermining the legislative branch’s ability to enact law.

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• Limiting lower courts’ capacity to review executive actions.

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• Reducing public participation in elections.

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The series posits that without reform, the United States risks “a medieval monarchy, not a modern, dynamic constitutional system.”

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The series asserts that citizens are not passive recipients of constitutional meaning and that “the arc of the moral universe must bend toward justice” through everyday political action. It emphasizes that “the last two weeks of June need not be the end of something. They can, in fact, be the start of something,” urging a shift from resignation to proactive reform.

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Despite widespread alarm over recent decisions, Slate notes that many Americans still celebrate July 4th as a hallmark of freedom, illustrating a “paradox” where admiration for democratic ideals coexists with acceptance of the Court’s authority. The article highlights that, historically, calls for reform after each controversial ruling have “resulted in nothing,” underscoring institutional inertia.

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Slate documents that participants have:

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• Attended “No Kings” protests.

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• Demonstrated against ICE raids in neighborhoods.

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• Gathered on the Supreme Court’s steps to defend statutory and constitutional promises.

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These actions are presented as evidence that “the fight for the Constitution is won via their shared commonsense understanding of justice.”

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• “It has often occurred to me that if you were a visiting alien—or even, say, a visiting Norwegian—it might strike you as profoundly odd that many, if not most, Americans now mark the close of the Supreme Court term in the last two weeks of June by feeling abject horror that an unelected, life-tenured juristocracy has yet again made it harder to be a free, equal, and independent American.” — Slate author

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• “And with every term, that same Roberts Six ensures that the legislative branches have less power to make law, that lower courts have less authority to review presidential actions, and that all of the people have less access to the ballot box.” — Slate author

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• “What would it require for an American public to simply reject the reflexive grant of authority to a court slowly entrenching the creeping authoritarianism of blanket immunity for a president, the shrinking of the franchise, or the rampant lawlessness of terminating the regulatory state?” — Slate author

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• “Now imagine an America in which foundational ideas about liberty, or gun safety, or bodily autonomy, or family integrity, or religious freedom, were generated by the people, through representative government and focused political action, and protected with the promise of free and fair elections.” — Slate author

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• “The last two weeks of June need not be the end of something.” — Slate author

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