Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe · ¶105

The majority’s apparent disregard for stare decisis is particularly lamentable here because this Court has long held that stare decisis has “special force” as to decisions interpreting congressional statutes. Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U. S. 164, 172 (1989). That is because Congress, not this Court, has the primary responsibility to “correct any mistake[s]” in this Court’s statutory decisions. Kimble, 576 U. S., at 456. Accordingly, this Court has consistently required a “superspecial justification to warrant reversing” a statutory precedent. Id., at 458. This Court has applied this heightened standard “even when a decision has,” like Sosa, “announced a ‘judicially created doctrine’ designed to implement a federal statute.” 576 U. S., at 456.

slip opinion
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.