Courts have long extolled the benefits of stare decisis, saying that it "promotes the evenhanded, predictable, and consistent development of legal principles, fosters reliance on judicial decisions, and contributes to the actual and perceived integrity of the judicial process." See Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 827 (1991). Indeed, it has been said that, without the doctrine, "we may fairly be said to have no law." See Commonwealth v. Thompson, 985 A.2d 928, 953–54 (Pa. 2009) (quoting McDowell v. Oyer, 21 Pa. 417, 423 (1853)). Recently, however, the U.S. Supreme Court has departed from longstanding precedent in several cases—most notably in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022)—leading some members of the high court to accuse it of making a "laughing-stock" of stare decisis. See Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 144 S. Ct. 2244, 2295 (2024) (Kagan, J., dissenting, joined by Sotomayor and Jackson, JJ.).