Opinion ID: 1818626
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Stare decisis United States Supreme Court precedent.

Text: ¶ 34. Perhaps the most recognizable pronouncement regarding stare decisis was uttered by Justice Louis Brandeis, who stated in dissent: In most matters it is more important that the applicable rule of law be settled than that it be settled right. Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co., 285 U.S. 393, 405, 52 S.Ct. 443, 76 L.Ed. 815 (1932) (Brandeis, J., dissenting). Justice Brandeis's view was doggedly followed in numerous cases decided by the United States Supreme Court during the first half of the Twentieth Century. See e.g. James v. United States, 366 U.S. 213, 230-35, 81 S.Ct. 1052, 6 L.Ed.2d 246 (1961); Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc., 346 U.S. 356, 357, 74 S.Ct. 78, 98 L.Ed. 64 (1953) (per curiam) (court viewed silence as legislative acquiescence to precedent). United States v. South Buffalo Ry., 333 U.S. 771, 68 S.Ct. 868, 92 L.Ed. 1077 (1948); Cleveland v. United States, 329 U.S. 14, 18, 67 S.Ct. 13, 91 L.Ed. 12 (1946); (Black, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (arguing in support of reaffirming Commissioner v. Wilcox, 327 U.S. 404, 66 S.Ct. 546, 90 L.Ed. 752 (1946), which held embezzled money was not taxable income, since Congress chose not to enact contrary legislation in following fifteen years); Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91, 109-13, 65 S.Ct. 1031, 89 L.Ed. 1495 (1945); Helvering v. Griffiths, 318 U.S. 371, 63 S.Ct. 636, 87 L.Ed. 843 (1943). ¶ 35. However, there are also numerous cases in which the Supreme Court in majority, and certain justices in dissent, have refused to view silence alone as congressional approval of the Court's statutory interpretation. See e.g. Toucey v. New York Life Ins. Co., 314 U.S. 118, 140-41, 62 S.Ct. 139, 86 L.Ed. 100 (1941) (congressional silence should not be treated as acceptance of ill-reasoned precedents); Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerks Union, 398 U.S. 235, 90 S.Ct. 1583, 26 L.Ed.2d 199 (1970) (Nor can we agree that conclusive weight should be accorded to the failure of Congress to respond to Sinclair Refining Co. v. Atkinson, 370 U.S. 195, 82 S.Ct. 1328, 8 L.Ed.2d 440 (1962) [a case wrongly decided] on the theory that congressional silence should be interpreted as acceptance of the decision.); Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 202, 220-23, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) (The relevant demands of stare decisis do not preclude considering for the first time thoroughly and in the light of the best available evidence of congressional purpose, a statutory interpretation which started as an unexamined assumption on the basis of inapplicable citations and has the claim of a dogma solely through reiteration.); Holder v. Hall, 512 U.S. 874, 944-45, 114 S.Ct. 2581, 129 L.Ed.2d 687 (1994) (But `we have never applied stare decisis mechanically to prohibit overruling our earlier decisions determining the meaning of statutes.') (quoting Monell v. New York City Dept. of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 695, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611(1978)).