Trending: ‘stare decisis’

Lookups spiked 4,300% on October 14, 2020

Why are people looking up stare decisis?

The legal term stare decisis was looked up frequently on October 14, 2020, during the confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

According to The Atlantic:

Amy Coney Barrett and her Senate interlocutors can’t seem to stop discussing stare decisis, the principle that the Supreme Court should show respect for its own past decisions.

What does stare decisis mean?

Definition of stare decisis is: "a doctrine or policy of following rules or principles laid down in previous judicial decisions unless they contravene the ordinary principles of justice."

Where does stare decisis come from?

In Latin, Stare decisis means "to stand by decided matters," ultimately from the verbs stare meaning "to stand," and dēcīdere meaning "to decide."

The Latin verb stare is the root of other English words, such as constant (literally, "to stand together") and distant (literally, "to stand apart").

What is notable about this use of stare decisis?

There are many Latin terms that are used in English-language legal contexts, such as ad hominem, amicus curiae, habeas corpus, and pro bono.

Trend Watch is a data-driven report on words people are looking up at much higher search rates than normal. While most trends can be traced back to the news or popular culture, our focus is on the lookup data rather than the events themselves.