ts which are based upon past court decisions and established legal doctrines. Their decisions may be strongly, or even overwhelmingly, influenced by their own personal convictions and/or prejudices, but they must be logically supported by intellectual arguments.
This is true of the Supreme Court no less. The Court is bound by stare decisis, its own past decisions, and by the Constitution. Past decisions may be reversed if a majority of the Court feels that they were mistaken or based upon faulty constitutional interpretations. The Court must, however, provide support for its decisions, in the form of opinions. Even decisions enunciating a new legal doctrine must have some basis in established law. Because of this, the Supreme Court's history and policy-making is best understood through a history of legal thought.
In the preface to his book, David O'Brien states that part of his intention is to show how the Court has come to function like a legislature. He states that the Court used to make its decisions through collective deliberation bu
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