When the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Donald Trump's favor this month, the decision was seen by many as unusual in a time of deep partisan divisions. But underlying the court's 9-0 opinion was a broad base of agreement.

While the issues the court deals with are often very divisive, the justices don't take their work personally, Amy Coney Barrett told a crowd at George Washington University.

Supreme Court's hidden unanimity

The court upholds strict norms of respect and decorum, Barrett said. She said the justices discuss cases in order of seniority, and they never interrupt.

“So we hear everybody out and it’s not until everybody has spoken that there then can be some back and forth. We do not interrupt one another, and we never raise voices," she said.

Liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor echoed Barrett's comments about upholding norms.

“Generally, one of our senior colleagues will call the person who was perceived to maybe have gotten a little close and tell them, maybe you should think of an apology or patching it up a little bit,” Sotomayor said.

The justices have sometimes traded barbs in passionately worded legal opinions. In just the last couple of years, the court has issued some historic and divisive rulings on topics like affirmative action and abortion.

Attacks from the outside

In fact, unanimous rulings are the most common, but the public doesn't hear about them as often as the more controversial decisions.

While there are some real ideological divides on the bench, the court's members have been known to defend one another, and the integrity of the court as a whole.

But that has not stopped the court's legitimacy from coming under attack from the outside.

Liberals have become comfortable with trashing the court as an institution, with President Biden admonishing the justices to their faces at his recent State of the Union Address.

At a time when radicalism seems to be swallowing institutions whole, the Supreme Court is eager to convey an even temper.

"All of these things are ways to manage emotion without losing respect for one another and without losing an understanding that each of us is operating in good faith. And I think the public discourse has lost some of that,” Sotomayor said.