dissenting opinion
Judge's formal protest
A dissenting opinion is a judge's formal written disagreement with a court's majority ruling.
When judges vote on a case, those who disagree may write dissents explaining their reasoning: Justice Harlan's dissenting opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson proved prophetic.
Dissents have no legal force but may influence future courts or signal where law might evolve.
More broadly, any formally stated disagreement with a group's decision.
- Brown v. Board of EducationLandmark desegregation decision
- Marbury v. MadisonLandmark ruling establishing judicial review
- minority rightsSafeguards for underrepresented populations
- judicial reviewCourts invalidating unconstitutional acts
- precedentPrior authoritative example
ahead of its time · rebuttal · case law · appellate court · individual autonomy · Ruth Bader Ginsburg · voice of reason · ruling · overruled · legal history · legal reasoning · jurisprudence · counterargument · protest · verdict · constitutional · outlier · written
- objectionsobjection, complaint, protest, refutation, demur
- court rulingsrulings, divorce decree, judgments, annulment, verdicts
- political oppositionopposition party, opposition leader, minority party, minority leader, loyal opposition
- rulingsfinal judgment, summary judgment, ruling, final ruling, adjudication
- Supreme Courtchief justice, associate justices, justices, certiorari, oral arguments
- appealsappeal, appellate court, court rulings, case law, legal precedents
dissenting opinionmajority opinion
Position most hold
concurring opinion · unanimous decision · majority decision · binding precedent
dissenting opinionconsensus
General group agreement
agreement · assent · concurrence · endorsement · collective agreement