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How long do Supreme Court rulings stay relevant?

Example: During the 1935 Gold Clause Cases the Supreme Court ruled Congress has power expressly to prohibit and invalidate contracts, although previously made and valid when made, when they interfere with carrying out any monetary policy Congress is free to adopt.

These "contracts" the ruling refers to are the gold certificates still held by the Federal Reserve today. My question is how long will that 1935 Supreme Court ruling be relevant as the exact contracts ruled on are still in existence?

Update:

It should also be noted that these "contracts" are likely to stay around indefinitely. The gold certificates held by the Fed are unlike all other certificates. They don't allow the Fed to trade the certificate directly for the physical metal. So they really only exist for the Fed on paper in dollar terms.

2 Answers

Relevance
  • 5 years ago

    They stay relevant as long as they aren't overturned by subsequent cases or circumstances don't make them obsolete.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    5 years ago

    Forever, unless and until they are changed.

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