Which of the following can modify or reverse a decision of the supreme court?

Question: Which of the following can modify or reverse a decision of the supreme court?

There are two ways to modify or reverse a decision of the Supreme Court:

1. Constitutional amendment: The Constitution can be amended by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states. This is the most difficult way to modify or reverse a Supreme Court decision, but it has been done 27 times in American history.
2. Overruling: The Supreme Court can overrule its own decisions in subsequent cases. This is known as stare decisis, which means "to stand by decisions." However, the Court is not bound by its own precedent, and it may overturn a previous decision if it finds that it was wrongly decided or that the circumstances have changed significantly.

There are a number of factors that the Court may consider when deciding whether to overrule a precedent, including:

• The age of the precedent
• The consistency of the precedent with other Court decisions
• The reliance on the precedent by the public and the government
• The importance of the precedent
• The consequences of overruling the precedent

The Court has overruled a number of important precedents over the years, including:

• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), which held that African Americans were not citizens and could not sue in federal court, was overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws, was overruled by Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
• Roe v. Wade (1973), which established a constitutional right to abortion, was overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022).

It is important to note that the Supreme Court's power to overrule its own decisions is not absolute. The Court has been criticized for overruling precedents in a way that is unpredictable and arbitrary. Some critics have argued that the Court should be more reluctant to overrule precedents, especially when those precedents have been relied upon by the public and the government.