Harvard Law Today: Does Overturning Precedent Undermine The Supreme Courts Legitimacy

O’Melveny partner Michael Dreeben recently spoke at a Harvard Law School panel titled “Stare Decisis and the Roberts Court,” the second in a yearlong lecture series examining “The Supreme Court in a Constitutional Democracy.” Dreeben, who has argued more than 100 cases at the US Supreme Court and formerly served as deputy solicitor general, observed that the nation's high court overruled precedent five times in the 19th century, 116 times in the 20th century, and 20 times between 2000 and 2018. “[T]he precedent shattering decisions that we have had recently do not really form an exception to the pattern of the Court announcing landmark decisions in cases that overruled others,” Dreeben said.

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