What case of SCOTUS tells lower courts that they don’t have to follow Stare Decisis when it comes to SCOTUS rulings?
There was a Court of Appeals case that said SCOTUS was wrong in a case and refused to follow it. SCOTUS actually overturned their own ruling BUT told the Court of Appeals that they should not do such a thing on their own authority.
The only one that can overturn SCOTUS is SCOTUS.
Interestingly, the lower court in Wong Kim Ark stripped something out of the Slaughter House cases because they said it was Dicta.
ask yourself ... how do SCOTUS decisions get overturned? Do the cases start at the SCOTUS or do they begin their journey at the local level? I also never said a lower court overturned a SCOTUS ruling. What I said is that SCOTUS said that precedent is merely opinion, it is not law, it merely guides the courts in interpreting the law and if the opinion is erroneous, then it subject to repeal. It just takes the right case coming from the lower courts to do it and a SCOTUS with the gonads to take it up and actually hear it, not avoid it.
Therefore, are lower courts BOUND to follow Stare Decisis? NO! Not when the opinion of the Court is in conflict with the US Constitution.