[bzbarsky]

> It is absurd that a judge would knowingly make a judgement that a higher court will overturn.

If the judge makes the ruling based on previous rulings made by the higher court, while knowing that the higher court is likely to now overturn those rulings, it is still absurd?

The way the US system works is that lower courts are generally bound by previous higher court decisions, assuming those decisions are germane to the case in question.