Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Chemical Lime, Ltd.

It has been said that “any law student, after a month in law school, knows that the *406answer to the question ‘Define X,’ is: ‘For what purpose are we defining this term?’ ”1 In this case, we must define “take effect” for the purpose of deciding when our judgments become the law, not when they become final. One would think judgments from this Court would become the law immediately. Indeed, there is no foreboding in the term “Judgment Day” if nothing happens until “Mandate Day.”

I agree with the Court that our decisions can take effect whenever we say they do. For example, in the school finance…