---
title: "How often does the Supreme Court overturn its own decisions?"
description: "Fewer than 1% of Supreme Court cases have overturned an older decision. More than half of these cases concerned economic activity or criminal procedure."
date: "2026-04-08"
authors:
  - name: "Mia Hennen"
    job_title: "Editorial Assistant"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/mia-hennen/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/08/how-often-does-the-supreme-court-overturn-its-own-decisions/"
categories:
  - "Political Ideals & Systems"
  - "Supreme Court"
---

# How often does the Supreme Court overturn its own decisions?

![Reporters set up outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 1. (Al Drago/Getty Images)](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/SR_26.04.08_supreme-court_featured.jpg?w=640)
*Reporters set up outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 1. (Al Drago/Getty Images)*

The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether to overrule two of its own long-standing [legal precedents](https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/10/overturning-precedent-on-the-roberts-court/) – one about [presidential power](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/supreme-court-hears-arguments-on-trumps-power-over-independent-agencies) over federal agencies, which has been in place for over 90 years, and another about [campaign financing](https://rollcall.com/2025/12/08/supreme-court-to-hear-arguments-on-campaign-finance-limits/) by political parties.

### In the past 20 Supreme Court terms, about 1% of cases have overruled an earlier decision

*% of U.S. Supreme court cases that overturned older rulings in each 20-term period*

| Terms | All cases | Cases that overturned an older ruling | % of cases that overturned an older ruling |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2005-2024 | 1471 | 21 | 1.4% |
| 1985-2004 | 2209 | 44 | 2.0% |
| 1965-1984 | 3269 | 69 | 2.1% |
| 1945-1964 | 2531 | 30 | 1.2% |
| 1925-1944 | 3295 | 36 | 1.1% |
| 1905-1924 | 4370 | 10 | 0.2% |
| 1885-1904 | 4901 | 6 | 0.1% |
| 1865-1884 | 4084 | 13 | 0.3% |
| 1845-1864 | 1426 | 3 | 0.2% |
| 1825-1844 | 858 | 3 | 0.3% |
| 1805-1824 | 685 | 1 | 0.1% |
| 1791-1804 | 103 | 0 | 0.0% |

Note: While the Supreme Court was founded in 1789, it didn’t rule on its first case until 1791, and it didn’t overrule a prior decision until 1810.

Source: Library of Congress and U.S. Supreme Court Database at Pennsylvania State University.

These cases follow the court’s high-profile decision in June 2022 to [overturn Roe v. Wade](https://www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn), a ruling that had guaranteed the right to an abortion nationwide for nearly five decades.

Since the Supreme Court’s founding in 1789 through its most recent full term in 2024, **fewer than 1% of all rulings (236 of 29,202) have overturned an earlier high court decision,** according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the [Library of Congress](https://constitution.congress.gov/resources/decisions-overruled/) and the [Supreme Court Database](https://scdb.la.psu.edu/) at Pennsylvania State University.

Overturning precedent hasn’t been very common in recent decades, either. Between the 2005 and 2024 terms, only 21 of 1,471 rulings (1.4%) overturned one or more earlier decisions.

For the Library of Congress to consider a case overturned, a majority of the Supreme Court must have explicitly said so or used language that is “[functionally equivalent](https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/appx.1/ALDE_00000065/).” Also, these figures only account for cases the Supreme Court agreed to hear in the first place; the modern court takes up fewer than 100 cases out of thousands of petitions it receives each term.

**About this research**

This Pew Research Center analysis looks at how often the Supreme Court overturns its own rulings and what legal areas those rulings address.

#### Why did we do this?

Pew Research Center conducts high-quality research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. This analysis is part of our broader work on the [Supreme Court](https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/politics-policy/government/supreme-court/).

Learn more about [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/about/).

#### How did we do this?

This analysis primarily uses data from the [Library of Congress](https://constitution.congress.gov/resources/decisions-overruled/) and the [Supreme Court Database](https://scdb.la.psu.edu/) at Pennsylvania State University, a resource compiled and updated regularly by [legal scholars](https://scdb.la.psu.edu/about/the-contributors/). The data is up to date through the court’s 2024 term; data for the full 2025 term, which ends in October 2026, is not yet available.

For this analysis, we analyzed cases across 20-term increments to examine different periods in the Supreme Court’s history. We used this framing because, on average, justices serve around [two decades](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/02/08/younger-supreme-court-appointees-stay-on-the-bench-longer-but-there-are-plenty-of-exceptions/) on the high court.

Information about Supreme Court rulings that have been overturned, either in part or in full, comes from the Library of Congress. For the Library of Congress to consider a case overturned, a majority of the court must have explicitly said so or used language that is “[functionally equivalent](https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/appx.1/ALDE_00000065/).” The resulting list of overturned cases may be narrower than some others because it is based on these specific, fixed criteria.

Issue areas for each case come from [the Supreme Court Database’s codebook](https://scdb.la.psu.edu/online-codebook/issue-area/). We consolidated its 14 broad issue areas into 12, combining the civil rights and privacy categories because they [concern similar legal questions](https://scdb.la.psu.edu/online-codebook/issue/#:~:text=The%20four%20issues%20comprising%20privacy%20may%20be%20treated%20as%20a%20subset%20of%20civil%20rights.). We also combined private action, miscellaneous and uncategorized cases into an “Other” category because they address a very wide range of legal questions.

#### How long did precedents stand before being overturned?

### Most Supreme Court rulings that were later overturned stood for fewer than 25 years

*Number of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that were in place for __ before being overturned*

| Years | Cases | % |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Fewer than 25 years | 167 | 57% |
| 25-49 | 78 | 27% |
| 50-74 | 19 | 7% |
| 75-99 | 18 | 6% |
| 100+ | 10 | 3% |

Note: Duration is calculated using the calendar year of each decision, as opposed to the term year. Some cases have overturned multiple older rulings.

Source: Library of Congress and U.S. Supreme Court Database at Pennsylvania State University.

The first time the Supreme Court overturned its own ruling was in 1810, with [Hudson and Smith v. Guestier](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USREPORTS-10/pdf/USREPORTS-10-281.pdf). This case broadly concerned courts’ international jurisdiction and overruled a decision handed down two years earlier. On average, **decisions that have been overturned by the court stood for around 29 years before being reversed.**

Many rulings lasted much longer, including 10 that were in place for at least a century before being overturned. On the other end of the spectrum, 71 rulings were in place for a decade or less.

Across the most recent 20 terms, the average overturned decision had a shelf life of around 38 years.

#### What kinds of cases have been overturned most frequently?

### More than half of Supreme Court cases that overturned an older ruling dealt with economic activity or criminal procedure

*% of U.S. Supreme Court cases that concerned …*

| Issue area | All cases | Cases that overturned an older ruling |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Economic activity | 28.9% | 27.1% |
| Criminal procedure | 11.0% | 26.7% |
| Civil rights | 9.9% | 13.6% |
| Federalism | 3.1% | 8.1% |
| Judicial power | 19.1% | 7.6% |
| First Amendment | 2.8% | 6.4% |
| Due process | 3.9% | 3.8% |
| Federal taxation | 5.1% | 2.5% |
| Unions | 1.8% | 2.5% |
| Attorneys | 1.1% | 0.0% |
| Interstate relations | 0.9% | 0.0% |
| Other | 12.2% | 1.7% |

Note: Figures reflect cases from the Supreme Court's founding through its 2024 term. Read "About this research" for more information about the issue area categories.

Source: Library of Congress and U.S. Supreme Court Database at Pennsylvania State University.

The Supreme Court has overturned precedents in a variety of legal areas. For example, the decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 broadly concerned **civil rights.** That’s according to the Supreme Court Database, which categorizes cases by issue area.

Overall, 14% of Supreme Court rulings that overturned precedents concerned civil rights. That’s slightly higher than the share of *all *high court cases that concern civil rights (10%).

More than a quarter of all decisions that overturned earlier rulings are related to **economic activity **(27%), similar to the share of *all* cases related to the same topic (29%).

One prominent case in this category is Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a June 2024 ruling that [overturned a 40-year precedent](https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/06/supreme-court-strikes-down-chevron-curtailing-power-of-federal-agencies/). It ended the practice of “[Chevron deference](https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/06/supreme-court-strikes-down-chevron-curtailing-power-of-federal-agencies/),” which gave federal agencies the power to interpret laws they administer.

**Criminal procedure** cases are disproportionately likely to have been overturned: 27% of all decisions that overturned earlier ones relate to criminal procedure, compared with only 11% of *all *Supreme Court decisions.

Ramos v. Louisiana, a 2020 criminal procedure case, overturned two separate precedents that had been on the books for almost five decades. The justices ruled that a jury must find a criminal defendant [guilty by a unanimous verdict](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/us/politics/supreme-court-unanimous-verdicts.html) rather than a majority verdict, as was allowed in some states at the time.

Between the 2005 and 2024 terms, several cases that reversed others have been related to civil rights or criminal procedure (five each) or economic activity (four).

***Related:**** *[*Favorable views of Supreme Court remain near historic low*](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/09/03/favorable-views-of-supreme-court-remain-near-historic-low/)