The Florida Supreme Court has recently issued two blockbuster opinions about its methodology for deciding cases. First, the court adopted the “supremacy-of-the-text principle,” or textualism, as its governing methodology for construing legal texts. Second, the court announced a new test for stare decisis: when the court is “convinced that a precedent clearly conflicts with the law [it is] sworn to uphold, precedent normally must yield.” Both holdings signal major shifts in approach, and lawyers and litigants appearing before the court should take note. More
