Question

Which principle guides Supreme Court justices to follow precedent when ruling on cases?

a. two-year terms
b. until the president who appointed him/her is out of office
c. four-year terms
d. for life

Answer 1

None of the above, although D would certainly have the most impact.

A Supreme Court justice is appointed for life. This means that their rulings are not bound to traditional elected politics in the way that elected judges are responsible to voters.

Judges generally agree to the principle of stare decisis, which refers to letting the decision stand or following precedent.

This enables a smooth continuity when it comes to American law.

So, none of the above are correct answers to the question asked but D is the only one that factually applies to Supreme Court justices.

Answer 2

The correct answer is the following.

The principle that guides Supreme Court justices to follow precedent when ruling on cases is called "Stare Decisis."

As we see, the options provided are from another question.

In legal terms, "Stare Decisis" is a Latin word, as you can see. It is what legal experts have known as the Doctrine of Precedent. A good translation for Stare Decisis would be "to maintain the things that were decided." This means that the Court has previously decided on similar cases and some rules were issued in those cases.