The United States of America faces numerous social and political crises, but in the view of one conservative-leaning Supreme Court justice, there is one particular emergency situation that threatens to undermine the foundation holding up this 250-year experiment in democracy.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh revealed in a recent discussion that the lack of civic education for Americans was "the number one thing" that threatened the future of the nation's democratic institutions, according to Newsweek.

Indeed, a basic understanding of how local, state, and federal governments are structured and operate seems to be sorely lacking these days, including among many who seek to serve or hold positions of power within said governments.

The importance of a civic education

On Thursday, Justice Kavanaugh spoke during an event at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, as part of the Ken Starr Lecture Series, named in honor of the late judge and special prosecutor whom the jurist used to work for in the 1990s.

At one point in the discussion, history professor Ashley Cruseturner asked Kavanaugh about his biggest concerns regarding the sustainment of American-style democracy.

The justice replied that "the number one thing" necessary to keep the nation's political institutions functioning properly, in his view, was an adequate civics education for all Americans.

"Making sure our middle school and high school and college students understand the importance of this and the importance of Congress and the importance of the presidency and the states and how our government operates," Kavanaugh said, was just as critical as understanding the importance of the U.S. Constitution.

Separation of powers a key concept

One particular concept with the broader understanding of U.S. civics that Justice Kavanaugh believes is especially important is the separation of powers between and within the coequal branches of the government, according to the Associated Press.

"And the framers recognized in a way that I think is brilliant, that preserving liberty requires separating the power," Kavanaugh explained of the men who drafted the Constitution that undergirds the federal government.

"No one person or group of people should have too much power in our system," he said.

That would include, per Newsweek, his own judicial branch and the Supreme Court that he's been part of since 2018, which he believes has come to play an outsized role in recent years in comparison to the power and influence wielded by Congress, the presidency, and the various state governments.

Kavanaugh went on to say that, for too many Americans, it was "a mistake to think of the court as something that's going to solve this problem and solve that problem."

Kavanaugh praises Roberts for holding the court together

Newsweek reported that Justice Kavanaugh also downplayed during his remarks the media-fueled rumors of rising tension and troubles amid the partisan split of the Supreme Court's nine members.

Indeed, at a recent judicial conference in Tennessee last week, Kavanaugh heralded the dedicated efforts of Chief Justice John Roberts in "picking his spots appropriately" to ensure that all members remained on the same page, which he jokingly acknowledged was like "trying to herd cats."