Although courts may occasionally overrule their own previous decisions, doing so requires more than just the belief that the previous de cision was in error. If that were all that were necessary, stare decisis would become meaningless, because it is precisely the point of stare decisis that a court should treat a previous decision as binding just because of its existence and not because it is perceived to be correct. If every time a court believed an earlier decision to be mistaken it could overrule that decision, then there would be no principle of stare decisis at all.

Unknown, Frederick Schauer - Thinkin…, loc. 106