U.S. Supreme Court,
Law Practice,
California Supreme Court,
Appellate Practice
Oct. 4, 2022
Scare(y) Decisis: reversing rights and wrongs
If stare decisis is too readily discarded, then the Constitution becomes “nothing more than what five Justices say it is” at any point in time. - Justice Lewis F. Powell
Benjamin G. Shatz
Partner
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP
Appellate Law (Certified), Litigation
Email: bshatz@manatt.com
Benjamin is a certified specialist in appellate law who co-chairs the Appellate Practice Group at Manatt in the firm's Los Angeles office. Exceptionally Appealing appears the first Tuesday of the month.
Last month's column, Dicta Ain't Necessarily So, explored the question of how to discern dicta from holdings in case law. But what it didn't address is why that's an important question. There was no motivation to do that because we all already know the answer: Only holdings have precedential effect under stare decisis. See Humphrey's Exr. v. U.S., 295 U.S. 602, 626 (1935). But stare decisis itself is now under tremendous scrutiny, g...
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