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28 Nat'l Black L.J. 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/natblj28 and id is 1 raw text is: AMERICAN EXCLUSION DOCTRINE: A RESPONSE TO LIBERAL DEFENSES OF STARE DECISIS GABRIELA VASQUEZ* ABSTRACT Stare decisis has long been considered a conservative doctrine. Yet, in recent years, liberals have taken up a defense of the legal principle in efforts to preserve key liberal precedents. Despite the existing critiques of stare decisis as oppressive, political, and inconsistent, advocates along the entire political spectrum continue to claim its value as a neutral tool that ensures equality, consistency, and impartiality in jurisprudence. This Note pushes back on liberal defenses of stare decisis by highlighting well-established critiques through a case study of Supreme Court decisions on citizenship. The analysis, based on Critical Race Theory, provides an original approach to critiques of stare decisis and contextualizes the potential harm from continued advocacy to protect progressive decisions for the sake of setting liberal precedent. TABLE OF CONTENTS IN TR O D U C TIO N ...............................................................................................................................2 I. A CRITICAL RACE APPROACH TO STARE DECISIS.............................................................6 II. CITIZENSHIP AND STARE DECISIS................................................................................. 10 A . The D anger of Bad Precedents ................................................................................12 B . L im its of O verruling ..................................................................................................18 C. Lim ited Effect of Good Precedents ..........................................................................21 III. BEYOND THE COURT, BEYOND THE LAW.........................................................................24 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................26 * Gabriela Vasquez is a recent graduate of Yale Law School (J.D., 2021). She earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in 2015. The author is deeply indebted to Professor Aziz Rana for his inspirational teaching and guidance from the start of this project when it was merely a half-formed idea. She is also incredibly grateful to an incredible network of women of color scholars, especially Camila Bustos and Sherry Tanious, without whom this project would never have been completed. Finally, she would like to thank Adam Kinkley for his patient and thorough feedback in the early stages of this project, as well as the editors of the National Black Law Journal, Lydia Heye and Bradan Litzinger, for their thoughtful edits and suggestions. 1

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