Public confidence in courts could be nearing a crisis point in an era of polarization, a panel including veteran judicial leaders and lawyers said Friday.

And the recent leak of a U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion was condemned by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy as a “cowardly, corrupt, contemptuous act.”

Third Circuit Chief Judge D. Brooks Smith. Third Circuit Senior Judge D. Brooks Smith. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM