A court decision is the judicial determination of rights and obligations reached by the court based on facts and law. Court decisions are one of the most important sources of law in our society, along with legislative and regulatory enactments. Court decisions can be in the form of a written opinion or order.
Generally, a majority of Justices agree to the content of a decision before it is publicly delivered. The Justice who authors the majority opinion, often with the assistance of others, must carefully consider the comments and concerns of those Justices who did not participate in the drafting of the majority opinion before signing onto it. Occasionally, Justices who disagree with the result of a case will write a separate dissenting opinion. Dissenting opinions are not binding on lower courts and do not serve as precedent for future cases.
If a case involves both state law and federal law, the Court’s opinion will usually address both types of law. The Court has interpreted its jurisdiction to avoid issuing advisory opinions that offer guidance to state courts without resolving the dispute in the case at hand. If the decision below rested solely on state law, however, the Supreme Court will not review it.
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