From Juries to Justices, America’s Courtrooms Are Seeing a Decline in Civility
America’s political and cultural divisions are increasingly finding their way into the nation’s courtrooms. From bitter jury-room disputes to unusually public clashes among Supreme Court justices, the judiciary – long considered the most restrained and deliberate of America’s institutions – is beginning to reflect the same polarization reshaping much of American public life.
Courts were once the federal branch of government least likely to generate headlines for hot tempers or personal attacks. Increasingly, they are starting to look like everything else.
A Warning Sign From the Jury Box
A recent Wall Street Journal report by Corinne Ramey offers a striking introduction to the problem.
Trial lawyers, jury consultants and courtroom observers are witnessing growing levels of hostility, distrust, and dysfunction among jurors across the country. Deliberations once viewed as difficult but manageable exercises in compromise are, in some cases, devolving into shouting matches, accusations of misconduct, personal threats, and complete breakdowns in consensus.
At the center of the Journal’s story is a Florida opioid lawsuit involving CVS, Walmart and Walgreens. Jurors deliberating the case reportedly endured two weeks of intense conflict – accusing one another of refusing to follow the law, ripping up presentation materials, improperly conducting outside research using artificial intelligence and even secretly communicating with attorneys.
One juror described the atmosphere as “relentless arguing,” while another compared the experience to the classic courtroom drama 12 Angry Men – except without the eventual reconciliation.
Jury consultants and attorneys increasingly believe these incidents are not isolated episodes, but symptoms of a broader societal fracture.
Consultant Laurie Kuslansky told the Journal that “whatever you see in society at large you see in the jury deliberation room,” pointing to pandemic-era isolation and widening political polarization as forces making compromise and consensus more difficult.
Survey data collected by law firm Orrick and trial consultant J. Lee Meihls underscores the concern: 57% of surveyed Americans in 2025 said they distrusted the U.S. justice system, while 65% said they would follow personal beliefs or conscience over the law or a judge’s instructions.
The data from the jury box is significant on its own. But it takes on a different dimension when viewed alongside what has been happening at the very top of the American judicial system.
The Supreme Court: A Bench Divided