Economics
Stare Decisis and Its Practical Limits in Lower Courts
Quick fact
The U.S. Supreme Court has explicitly held that lower federal courts are absolutely bound by its precedents, yet those same lower courts routinely 'distinguish' rulings to avoid applying them to new facts—sometimes narrowing a precedent so much that it becomes nearly toothless.
Why this is interesting
Imagine a rule so powerful that every judge must follow it—but also so flexible that clever lawyers can bend it. How do lower courts both obey and quietly reshape the law?