A court decision is one of the primary sources of legal authority in our system of law. It is only in conjunction with the more general holdings of case law that statutes and regulations can be correctly construed and enforced.
Decisions issued by the Court may be as simple as an order or elaborate written opinions that provide the basis for a case-specific ruling on a particular issue. Judicial decisions are important because they help to establish, and build upon, a framework that may be employed to resolve cases in the future. They are a vital element in a system that relies on precedent and the principle of stare decisis to create, interpret and apply legal rules.
A decision typically consists of a heading, a syllabus and a set of one or more opinions. The heading contains basic information, such as the title of the case, the court in which it is being reviewed and where to find the decision. The syllabus is a brief summary of what happened in the lower courts. It then outlines the conclusions reached by the Court and provides some of the reasoning that led to those conclusions. The sections of the decision that are marked “Opinion” constitute the judgment, and are considered law. Justices who write concurring or dissenting opinions explain why they agree with the outcome of the case but disagree with the majority’s rationale.
Many cases involve issues that require the Court to consider both state and federal law. The Supreme Court has ruled that, in such cases, the Court will only review a state court’s decision if the decision “fairly appears to rest primarily on federal ground and not interwoven with any substantial state ground.” This rule is intended to prevent the Court from making advisory opinions and to honor a separate jurisdictional bar that the Court has recognized since its founding.
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