AP®︎ U.S. Government & Politics: Topic 2.9 Flashcards

A rule or principle established by an earlier judicial decision that guides later cases involving the same legal question and materially similar facts

The doctrine that courts should follow precedent when deciding cases with similar facts and legal questions—“to stand by things decided.”

The principle that lower courts must follow controlling decisions of higher courts, including Supreme Court rulings on federal law

Identifying a material factual or legal difference that makes an earlier rule inapplicable while leaving that precedent intact

Overruling rejects a rule from a previous case; reversing changes a lower court’s judgment in the same case

A justice’s views about constitutional interpretation, governmental power, individual rights, federalism, and the proper role of courts

The Court’s balance of legal philosophies, which appointments can change and thereby influence whether precedents are created, expanded, narrowed, or overruled

Creating a new governing legal rule through a court’s holding, often when the legal question has not previously been resolved