Constitutional Law
Jul. 21, 2001
On High
To state the obvious, the U.S. Supreme Court must do more than simply resolve the controversies in the cases before it; the court pronounces the law of the land. The court, therefore, has a basic duty to issue decisions that inform governments, people and businesses as to how they must behave. Also, of course, the court's rulings must give guidance to lower courts, both federal and state, as to the legal issues that will come before them.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
To state the obvious, the U.S. Supreme Court must do more than simply resolve the controversies in the cases before it; the court pronounces the law of the land. The court, therefore, has a basic duty to issue decisions that inform governments, people and businesses as to how they must behave. Als...
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