Precedent One of the sources of law in the common law is precedent. The Supreme Court of the United States was accused last term of violating the rule of stare decisis - that judges should in general follow the rules set down in previous similar cases, or overrule cases openly with an explanation of why this is necessary. Immediately after the end of the Court's work in June, NPR's legal correspondent, Nina Totenberg, spoke of a number of cases that the Court effectively overruled. 8 min. Script. Then in October, University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone gave a long, very critical talk on the same subject. 49 min. .mp3 or video. No script.