You learned in Distinguishing and Overruling that courts follow precedent (stare decisis, "to stand by things decided"). Constitutional cases add a twist. If the Court misreads a statute, Congress can pass a new law. If it misreads the Constitution, the only fixes are an amendment, which is rare, or the Court's own correction. So the Court has said that stare decisis is weaker in constitutional cases. Justice Louis Brandeis made the classic statement of this point in 1932: in most matters it matters more that a rule be settled than that it be settled right, but in constitutional cases the Court must be readier to correct itself.
Why it works
Key idea
| Overruled case | Overruled by | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1923): minimum wage for women struck down | West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937) | The end of the Lochner era; economic laws get deference. |
| Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918): child-labor shipping ban struck down | United States v. Darby (1941) | A broader reading of the commerce power. |
| Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): "separate but equal" | Brown v. Board of Education (1954) rejected it in public education; later cases ended it elsewhere | Separate facilities held inherently unequal. |
| National League of Cities v. Usery (1976) | Garcia v. San Antonio MTA (1985) | Its "traditional governmental functions" test proved unworkable. |
| Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977): public-sector agency fees | Janus v. AFSCME (2018), 5 to 4 | The Court walked through the factors and found each favored overruling; the dissent stressed reliance. |
Worked example: Applying the factors
- Quality of reasoning: later cases undercut it, which favors overruling.
- Workability: conflicting results below favor overruling.
- Consistency: it no longer fits related decisions, which favors overruling.
- Reliance: contracts built on it favor keeping it; the Court gives most weight to concrete reliance such as property and contract rights.
Answer: Several factors point toward overruling and reliance points the other way. Justices weigh them differently, which is why overruling cases are often closely divided.
Worked example: Statutory or constitutional?
- For a statute, Congress can correct the Court with an ordinary law.
- If Congress has left the reading alone for decades, that silence is some sign it accepts it.
- For the Constitution, only an amendment or the Court can correct an error.
Answer: Stare decisis is strongest for statutory cases and weakest for constitutional ones.
Common mistake
Justices and scholars disagree about how much weight precedent should get. Some originalists argue that a demonstrably wrong reading of the Constitution should yield; others, and many living constitutionalists, treat a long line of precedent as part of the Constitution's meaning. Hamilton expected judges to be "bound down by strict rules and precedents" in Federalist No. 78.