The Stare Decisis Scam

The once obscure law Latin phrase “stare decisis” used to be the exclusive property of pompous judges and still more pompous first year law students. Roughly translated it means “to stand pat.” Suddenly that phrase is sweeping the nation. Thanks to the perverted politics that Roe v. Wade begat, all sides of the burning debate over our constitutional future are looking for political advantage in the simple idea that courts should not lightly overrule their own precedents.

To the left, stare decisis means the Supreme Court’s mandate that every state must tolerate unlimited abortion on demand through nine months of pregnancy should be proof against rollback. Leftists of both parties understand stare decisis to mean that even Judges with enough decency and wit to know that the doctrine of Roe v. Wade is a moral and constitutional abomination must perpetuate that doctrine.

J. Peter Mulhern