You may have heard that the US Supreme Court recently overturned a long series of cases on the subject of corporate freedom of speech, related to a company’s right to finance political campaigns in the United States.
Under the Common Law system, lower courts are bound by the decisions made by the courts above them. These decisions are called precedents. Just like law made by the legislature, court precedents are law and must be followed by lower courts.
It is unusual for the highest court in the land to make a decision that changes a precedent.
One of the great voices of American political comedy, Stephen Colbert, explains the difference between legal precedent and “prece-don’t”.
Watch it here
