A court decision is a legal judgment or ruling that a judge makes in a case. Judges use law and precedent, the decisions of other courts on particular issues, to resolve cases and controversies. Court decisions establish and build upon the law that we live by and that governs our daily lives. Judicial decisions are one of the most important sources of law, along with legislative and regulatory enactments.
When the Supreme Court accepts a case to review, Justices study the record and the questions or points of law that the case raises. The Justices then write their opinions on the case, usually a majority or principal opinion, as well as any concurring or dissenting opinions. The majority or principal opinion explains the Court’s decision and the reasoning that led to that decision. The Justices also may write dissenting opinions, explaining their rationale for disagreeing with the Court’s decision. The most famous of these dissenting opinions was Justice John Marshall Harlan’s fiery dissent in the case Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the Justice denounced the principle behind racial segregation.
The Court’s decisions are formally released by the publication of a “syllabus” or other similar document, which describes all the opinions on a particular case. Typically, decisions that do not have a majority or principal or dissenting opinion are known as “per curiam” opinions, in which the Justices do not identify themselves as authors. The Justices can be as unanimous on a case as possible, although ideological dissonance within the Court can make unanimity elusive in major cases.
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