[dware]

“Tell them now that if they cross that line they will become an illegitimate institution, that the Supreme Court will lose the respect of the American people and therefore lose its authority,”

[OneWingedShark]

Well, if we were being honest with ourselves we could find many reasons not to respect the SCOTUS:

1. No respect of authority: they continually step outside the Constitution.
2. No respect of the law: they continually pronounce blatantly contraconstitutional law/regulation as fine.
3. No respect of logic: read the very first paragraph of Thomas's dissent in Raich and you'll see just how ridiculous it is to consider non-commerse as regulable under the interstate commerce clause.
4. No respect of the moral imperatives of the state [e.g. protect the innocent]: who was it that declared that states cannot outlaw abortion?
5. No respect of the existential imperatives of the state [e.g. sovereignty]: who was it that invalidated AZ's SB1070?
6. No moral backbone: their rejecting of CA's Prop 8 due to "standing" illustrates this.
7. No respect of another's authority: their rejection of CA's supreme court certifying the people's standing to take the case to the USSC illustrates this.

The USSC is the most lawless and corrupt organization in government; they get a pass because they wrap their offal in law and take advantage of the misconception that the Constitution is whatever the USSC says it is.

[MrB]

The federal gov’t, long ago, crossed the line from legitimate authority to authority ad baculum.

They are only obeyed now because of their ability to use force to require compliance, not because they are seen as a legitimate authority to be obeyed.