Tag: McConnell  When Should Courts Overturn Precedent?  Cato
legal associate Nick Mosvick and I explain that Citizens
United overturned one 20-year-old court decision in the name of
restoring an older tradition upholding First Amendment rights,
in a new article about to be published in the (Chapman
University Law School) Nexus Journal of Law & Public Policy
Here’s the abstract:  Stare decisis is an important doctrine
with deep roots in the common law. It “promotes the evenhanded,
predictable, and consistent development of legal principles,
fosters reliance on judicial decisions, and contributes to the
actual and perceived integrity of the judicial process.” Payne
v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 827 (1991). Indeed, our interest in
the law’s stability and predictability, and the reliance
interests produced by judicial decisions, sometimes dictate that
incorrect legal rulings be maintained — because the social
disruptions from correction outweigh the benefits of reaching
better decisions.  Still, stare decisis is n