QUESTION FROM IVAN: Loved your book "The Nine" I'm wondering whether you think the Stare Decisis (sp?) doctrine of respecting the precedent decisions of the SCOTUS is subject to degradation as certain key issues come to the Court over the next few years.
Review boards are not required to consider precedent decisions, meaning there are no easy answers for people attempting to navigate the VA — the whole thing is somewhat of a crapshoot.
Writer asked what kind of precedent the decision might set.
Judge Simpson noted in his ruling that if he had applied a strict standard, which he considered inappropriate given state and federal precedent, his decision might have come out differently.
At the very least, if the 2007-08 Celtics hadn't set a precedent, The Decision, possibly the most seismic event in modern NBA history, very well could have turned out much differently.
Under Supreme Court precedent, "procedural" decisions apply only prospectively, while "substantive" or "watershed" decisions apply retroactively.
In a precedent-setting decision, the judge in the case ruled that defense lawyers could no longer arbitrarily reject black jurors in criminal trials.
A regional National Labor Relations Board has ruled, in what many expect to be a precedent-setting decision, that student-athletes at Northwestern University can begin to unionize.
Federal prosecutors were so concerned that any ruling he issued would carry a significance even greater than its legal weight that they asked the Judge to reconsider his precedent-shattering decision.
In a precedent-setting decision against the police, the appeal judges ruled in 2010 that Evanson wasn't reasonable and lacked probable cause when he arrested Sara, and that the case could go to trial.
The court is expected to consider the case within the next few months, and State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said it will be a precedent-setting decision that could lead to bans by towns throughout Connecticut.
