'I Have Been to the Darkest Corners of Government, and What They Fear Is Light'

[merrily]

158. Google "Gov. George Wallace denied a Supreme Court decision was the law of the land."

We have several kinds of law in this country, Constitutional, statutory and case law precedent. (And those break down into federal, state and local, but let's stick to federal for now.)

Courts overruling their own prior decisions do not typically phrase it in terms of changing the law, but that is exactly what they are doing.

When the Court decided "separate but equal" met the standards of the 14th Amendment equal protection clause, that was the law of the land and state and local governments that wished to do so could legally have separate schools for different races. When the Court reversed itself on that point, holding that separate but equal did not meet the standards of the 14 amendment, it changed the law that it had previously made. Hence, photos of federal marshals walking little African American girls into school, enforcing court made federal law without endangering (more than necessary) the lives of the children.