A court can reject a decision of a higher court by distinguishing the cases on their facts or issues. Which option describes this process?

• A. A court can reject by overruling the higher court in all cases.
• B. A court can reject by distinguishing the cases on their facts or issues.
• C. A court can reject without justification.
• D. A court can ignore the higher court's decision if convenient.

Answer: (B)

Distinguishing a higher court’s decision means the court looks at the facts or issues and identifies differences that make that decision inapplicable to the current case. It’s how a lower court respectably limits precedent: the higher court’s ruling applies to cases with the same facts and issues, but when the current case has material differences, the lower court can treat the higher ruling as not controlling for this situation. This approach preserves the legitimate reach of prior decisions while recognizing that different circumstances can lead to different outcomes. The other options aren’t correct because overruling would require the higher court to change its ruling in a broader way, which a lower court can’t do on its own, and ignoring or acting without justification would undermine the court system’s orderly use of precedent.