The question is who does the media quote? How many judges are familiar with the rankings of researchers and publications? If our judiciary and congress are any examples, few appear to have any passing familiarity with the Constitution, much less with the field of social science research, as well as its limitations.
You are correct. As Mark Levin articulates so well we are unfortunately living in a Post-Constitutional Republic mutating into something else. Our moral fabric has faded and science is not able to restore its vividness because science is hard and undecipherable to most of the lay public. So social norms are sitting ducks for those aiming to knock them out.
But there is recourse. I invite you to listen several times and absorb fully the below linked tour de force speech presented in December 2014 to ALEC as part of the COS Project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdZuV8JnvvA