At bottom, then, the Court took the unusual step of overruling precedent for the most fundamental of reasons: the need to ensure, in keeping with the Nation's oldest traditions, fair and dependable adjudications of a defendant's guilt. In this much alone, Ramos's reasoning evokes this Court's descriptions of watershed rules.

[T]he world, the world, / All ear and eye, with such a stupid heart / To interpret ear and eye, and such a tongue / To blare its own interpretation— […]

[…] wouldst thou aught with me?

He was of a wild and restless disposition in those days, and his acquaintances were wont to call him by the name of Jack the Rambler. But it is a long road that has no turning,—he had now been many years at sea,—was the captain of a free trader, and as remarkable for his steadiness and worldly wisdom as he had been noted for wildness in his youth.