U.S. Supreme Court
Oct. 31, 2012
When is A majority THE majority?
The Supreme Court has developed principles to aid in identifying what portions of a split opinion constitute binding precedent - that is, the case's holding.
2nd Appellate District, Division 2
Brian M. Hoffstadt
Associate Justice
California Court of Appeal
UCLA School of Law, 1995
It is emphatically the province of the U.S. Supreme Court to "say what the law is," Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 177 (1803), but understanding precisely what that court is saying can sometimes be tricky. That is because the Supreme Court does not have one voice - it has nine. Division among the justices is common, and the court has developed principles to aid in identifying what portions of a split opinion constitute binding precedent - that is, the case's holding. These princi...
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