A court decision identifies the legal rules and principles that a judge or other authority deems important enough to be employed in future cases. It also establishes binding precedent. An important judicial decision can be overruled, however, if higher courts on appeal or determinations of subsequent cases found the principles underpinning a previous decision erroneous in law or overtaken by new legislation or developments.
Justices must agree on the content of a court decision before it is publicly issued. The Justice in charge of writing the opinion must carefully take into account the comments and concerns of the other Justices who voted for it. Justices who disagree with a Court’s decision may write a dissenting opinion, explaining alternative grounds on which they reached the opposite result. Justice John Marshall Harlan authored more than 120 such opinions and is known as the Great Dissenter.
Judicial decisions often have profound health impact, including on the communities and individuals affected by them. The Hopkins Health Notes tool allows health experts to add value to the process by assessing the health impacts of a case at both Supreme and state court levels before it is decided, and during the implementation phase of a decision once it has been made.
Court decisions get the most media attention and are considered to be of most importance, although they make up only a fraction of all cases decided each year. However, the term “importance” may be misleading. Judicial decisions that establish important new precedents or change the way existing laws are applied are more likely to be cited, while others languish on the ash heap of legal history.
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