The third branch of government, the judiciary, was supposed to operate uninfluenced by politics. As Ali Velshi explains, to function as a check on the power of the legislative and executive branches, the U.S. Supreme Court has no power under the Constitution to enforce its decisions. The Supreme Court clarifies and defines the rules; it’s up to Congress and the executive branch to ensure they’re followed.

Without the “sword or purse,” the power of the Supreme Court lies in a cooperative government and a trusting public. Like Tinkerbell, we, the people, must believe the court is an independent arbiter of constitutional questions, or its legitimacy literally becomes moot.

Today, the Supreme Court delivers its last decisions of this term, including a decision that could allow Donald Trump to escape prosecution for his actions to undermine democracy and overthrow the government on January 6, 2021. These decisions will be released against a backdrop of dwindling public trust in a court that has defied precedent and dismantled decades-old protections for voting and women, and expanding government reach into citizens’ lives while eliminating its power to protect them from pollution and corruption. The American people have never had so little trust in our highest judicial institution: just 49 percent of Americans said in a Gallup poll they had a “great deal or fair amount of trust” in the Supreme Court.

“When people stop believing in the systems that keep democracy running,” Velshi says, “those systems will cease to function.”

LISTEN: ALI VELSHI ON THE CRUMBLING TRUST IN THE SUPREME COURT

WATCH: VELSHI ON WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE PUBLIC NO LONGER TRUSTS SCOTUS

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