No Court Can Make Time Stand Still.

We Recognize That Stare Decisis Embodies An Important Social Policy That Represents An Element Of Continuity In Law And Is Rooted In The Psychological Need To Satisfy Reasonable Expectations.

Certainly The Affirmative Pursuit Of One's Convictions About The Ultimate Mystery Of The Universe And Man's Relation To It Is Placed Beyond The Reach Of Law. Government May Not Interfere With Organized Or Individual Expressions Of Belief Or Disbelief. Propagation Of Belief - Or Even Of Disbelief - In The Supernatural Is Protected, Whether In Church Or Chapel, Mosque Or Synagogue, Tabernacle Or Meeting-house.

Wisdom Too Often Never Comes, And So One Ought Not To Reject It Merely Because It Comes Late.

Congress Is, After All, Not A Body Of Laymen Unfamiliar With The Commonplaces Of Our Law. This Legislation Was The Formulation Of The Two Judiciary Committees, All Of Whom Are Lawyers, And The Congress Is Predominately A Lawyers' Body.

It Has Not Been Unknown That Judges Persist In Error To Avoid Giving The Appearance Of Weakness And Vacillation.