Politicized confirmation processes can indeed damage the institution of the U.S. Supreme Court itself. That is, our study shows that the legitimacy of the Supreme Court was diminished over the course of the Alito confirmation process. We’re not talking here about attitudes toward Alito but about the fundamental legitimacy of the court.

Any loss in the perceived legitimacy of the Supreme Court is significant, inasmuch as legitimacy is the principal political capital of courts. Courts in general face difficult issues of compliance, lacking as they do any ability to seduce compliance through funding (the "purse") and or to compel compliance through coercion (the "sword"). For contentious decisions like Bush v. Gore to be accepted by the people — and that decision was, as we also report in our book — the court must be seen as legitimate institution. Otherwise, the efficacy of the institution itself is at risk. Without legitimacy, courts can be rendered politically impotent.