Things that damage the credibility of the Supreme Court:
- Bush v. Gore: interfering with an election, first by ordering officials to stop the recount, and then declaring a winner because the recount wasn't completed when it was pretty clear the recount would make the result turn out the other way)
- Shelby County v. Holder: striking down a law that had been previously held to be constitutional by the Supreme Court and which the kind of law that the Constitution expressly states Congress has the power to pass, in a decision that never identifies which provision of the constitution the law violated, and instead seems to be based entirely on the fact that Chief Justice Balls and Strikes thinks that racial discrimination is not a thing anymore.
- Refusing to allow the Senate to vote on Merrick Garland's nomination to the Court for almost a year to make sure that a President from a different party filled the seat, based on a brand new and completely made-up theory that there should not be a confirmation vote for a Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year.
- Shoving through the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh despite a fairly serious scandal about his past conduct while instructing the FBI to say it is investigating the allegation but not allowing it to interview witnesses unfavorable to Kavanaugh or follow-up on thousands of leads provided to the FBI.
- Voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh without any investigation into who paid off Kavanaigh's large debt just before he was nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice.
- Putting Brett Kavanaugh on the Court with a lifetime appointment after he blatantly lied under oath several times during his confirmation hearing.
- Shoving through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett with less than a month before the election as people openly discussed how Trump wanted to get her confirmed before the election so she could rule to keep him in the presidency if the Court was faced with another Bush v. Gore-type case. Also, incidentally violating the alleged principle of not holding a confirmation vote in an election year that justified not holding a vote on Merrick Garland.
- Several rulings on the shadow docket that struck down laws as unconstitutional without a full briefing, argument, or even a full opinion, cementing the idea that the Court's rulings are based on political preference not judicial philosophy.
- The fact that Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, is involved in the management of political groups that regularly submit briefs to the Court and Thomas does not recuse himself from those cases.
- The fact that Justice Thomas voted to block the House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection from getting evidence that his wife was involved in planning the overthrow of the U.S. government.
- The entire career of Sam Alito, the most overtly partisan Justice, who has switched positions on legal issues just to make sure that whatever position the Republican party wants is what prevails in the Court.
- The fact that the leaked abortion majority opinion was written by Justice Alito.
I could probably come up with more if I gave it a little more thought.
Things that do not have any effect on the Supreme Court's credibility:
- Whether the Supreme Court's tradition of secrecy, which is not required by law, is followed.
