At one point, a majority of Americans had confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court, and many viewed it as a fundamental part of the country's democracy, one that could rise above partisan politics.

Now, polls indicate that confidence in the institution has sunk to an all-time low. Recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court — currently composed of six conservative and three liberal-leaning judges — are viewed as increasingly politicized. Those include the overturning last month of the landmark abortion rights ruling Roe v. Wade, but they also include cases that could have major impacts on climate change, the separation of church and state, and American democracy as a whole.

Today, we take a look at those cases — and to what extent Americans now see the Supreme Court as legitimate — with Rhiannon Hamam, a public defender in Texas and a co-host of the podcast 5-4.