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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 25, 2024

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Thanks for the explanation. Do cases have to percolate up to the SCOTUS for them to overturn the previous ruling, or does any of of the federal branches have the power to launch the review of existing cases?

For landmark cases, they would have to individually percolate up to SCOTUS for a reversal. That or constitutional amendments, which would then have their own cases develop. Either way it would be decades, if ever, for even a dedicated push to get close to your system.

Let me explain a reform that might not sound radical to you, but would be considered quite radical (and opposed with billions of dollars of legal advocacy). Some state like Texas passes a law that says: 1) If a trial date has been set and the state answers ready for trial, any delay by defendant cannot cause the trial to commence more than 30 days from that date; AND 2) If the defense answers not ready 2 times, they are not entitled to a 3rd continuance barring hospitalization (and insert other reasonable things here like the person has been on trial in another jurisdiction etc).

That law would be immediately struck down by the current set of rulings, and would have to go to SCOTUS to get approved/denied. They would likely deny it. It seems modest, but it is not.

Yes, this seems totally modest to someone from a civil law country, where such things are the matter of routine legislation.