What are two ways a US Supreme Court case can be changed?

Answer 1

Supreme Court decisions can only be overturned in two ways:

1. The US Supreme Court can overturn a decision on an earlier case by making a contradictory decision on a current case (or by reversing a current decision).
2. Congress and the States can overturn a decision by amending the US Constitution.

Answer 2

That depends on what is meant by changing a Supreme Court case. The specific decision of the court cannot be changed the way an appellate court can change a trial court decision or the Supreme Court can change an appellate court or trial court decision thtough the appeal process. If changing a court case means changing the principle or precedent the case makes, I would say there really are three ways, although, none of these ways truly "changes the case". They change the law on which the case is decided so that the case is no longer of any precedential value. First, if the case results in a specific interpretation of the Constitution or an Amendment, an Amendment may be adopted to change the Constitution or Amendment that had been interpereted in order to eliminate the basis for the decision. An example is the decision in Scott v. Sanford, the Dredd Scott case. An underlying premise in that case was that slavery was not unconstitutional. Later, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed to make slavery unconstitutional, thereby "changing" the principle that slavery is constitutional. A second way is similar to the first, but involves statutes instead of the Constitution or its Amendments. If a Supreme Court case construes the wording of a statute in such a way that a specific result is obtained in a case, Congress can simply amend that statute or repeal it so the statutory basis for the decision no longer exists. Third, the decision might be overruled by a later Supreme Court case. An example is Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the Supreme Court held that separate but equal public facilities for blacks and whites was constitutionally permissible. Over a half-century later, the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruled that separate facilities was unconstitutional. Note that none of the cases were "changed." They remain intact, but the basis for their rulings changed in the first two instances. In the third, the Supreme Court essentially decided that the principle laid down in the earlier case was appropriate when looking at the issue in modern society.

Answer 3

No single entity - not the President, Senate, House of Representatives, state Governors, nor anyone else - has the power to overturn a US Supreme Court ruling. Supreme Court decisions cannot be nullified by other parts of government. However, if the Supreme Court strikes down a federal law, Congress can always modify the law until it is such that the Supreme Court does not consider it to violate the Constitution, then pass it again.

Supreme Court decisions can only be overturned in two ways:

Legitimate Methods

1. The US Supreme Court reverses a decision on an earlier case by making a contradictory decision on a current case.
2. Congress and the States can overturn a decision by amending the Constitution.

Illegitimate Methods (Passive Resistance)

1. Sometimes the Executive Branch obstructs or fails to enforce a decision.
2. Sometimes Congress rewrites legislation to bring it into compliance with constitutional guidelines.
3. Sometimes Congress strips the Supreme Court of its appellate jurisdiction over certain types of cases to deprive them of the ability to overturn a law or policy.
4. Sometimes states pass laws that clearly violate Supreme Court decisions, forcing someone with standing to challenge the new law's constitutionality. Meanwhile, the law can be enforced even if violates established civil rights. State legislatures do this with the hope of overturning, or slipping around, precedents set by earlier Courts.

Contributor's Example

Don burns the US Flag on the steps of a state capitol. The state arrests him because the state amended its own constitution to make this illegal. However, the US Supreme Court ruled that flag burning is protected speech, thereby making flag burning lawful under US law.

If the case is appealed to the US Supreme Court, it would rule that the state constitutional amendment violates the US Constitution (which is superior) and strike down the state amendment.

The state then writes a law that Don has to buy a permit to burn the flag in any form of protest. The US Supreme Court might uphold that law (if challenged) as long as it fulfills a legitimate government purpose, but does not: 1) discriminate in who the permits are issued to, or 2) make the cost or time involved in issuance of the permit unbearable. Sometimes such laws are deemed unconstitutional, and sometimes not.

Answer 4

Well, you could

1. Change the law

or

2. Try a similar case with different justices later... the Supreme Court can overturn a decision made by a previous Supreme Court.

As far as overturning a current decision of the current court... you can't. The Supreme Court is the court of last resort, with nothing higher. It is equal in power to the president or to congress. That's the whole point of the court... it is one of the three branches of government that balances the power in our government. It doesn't have the *same* power... just equal power in a different area.

Answer 5

1) Congress can amend the US Constitution, with ratification by the States.

2) The Court can reverse its own prior decision.

Answer 6

1) the US Supreme Court itself can overturn a prior decision.

2) an amendment to the US Constitution may also be made to over turn a US Supreme Court decision.

Answer 7

The two ways in which a decision of the US Supreme Court can be overturned are: the court can reverse itself, or the US constitution can be amended.