Advice
How to read a court decision:
- legal disputes start in a trial court, where a complaint has been brought, and the issue at hand is entirely a question of fact; if the decision in the trial court is challenged, it goes to an appeals court, where the issue at hand is entirely about the interpretation of the law
- state issues come before a state court, and are appealed to a state appeals court; federal issues are brought to a district court, then appeal to one of eleven appeals courts, then to the Supreme Court. Decisions made at the top of that ranking become binding precedents that flow down the chain
decision titles:
- in trial cases, the plaintiff (bringing the compaint) name comes first, the defendant second
- in appeals cases, the appellant (party who appealed the decision) comes first
example: Hustler Magazine v. Falwell 485 U.S. 46 (1988)
“U.S.” stands for “United States Reports,” the publication for all Supreme Court decisions
“F. Supp” for “Federal Supplement”, which is U.S. District Court…
“F., 2d” for “Federal Reporter, 2nd series” for the 2nd Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals…
“485″ is the volume number of that report
“46″ is the page number
“1988″ is the year it was decided
- a decision comes in two parts: the order, meaning the actual decision rendered, and the opinion, the explanation of that decision
- there can be several opinions in a single case, especially at the Supreme Court level:
- the majority opinion is the one that holds as the decision
- a concurring opinion can be written by a judge or judges who agree with the order but wants to express a different justification
- a dissenting opinion can be written by a judge or judges who do not agree with the decision in the majority opinion
- a per curiam decision comes from the entire court rather from specifically named judges
- so for instance, Bush v. Gore had a per curiam decision, a concurring opinion signed by 3 judges, and 4 separate dissenting opinions, each signed by multiple judges
* though dissenting opinions have no bearing on the decision, they can be quite important in the long run; they often become the foundation for future decision when the thinking turns; a new court with different tendencies can draw on old dissent arguments
- some suggestions about how to read:
* at the start, they usually trace the progress of the case through past courts, so the current decision about those decisions is clear
* there is lots of citation, of past cases you don’t know and legal arguments you haven’t read. Pay cursory attention to precedents that get discussed a lot, but don’t get bogged down in reading through the citations
* note the structure of the opinion, its part of the argument
* note who wrote it
Some more references:
Maureen Garde, “A Short Course on Reading and Understanding Court Opinions”
Jay Johansen, “A Layman’s Guide to Reading Court Decisions”