A court decision is a judicial determination of rights and obligations reached by a court based on facts and law. The term decision can also refer to the act of delivering a ruling in a case or the text of the ruling itself. A decision can include a summary of the facts, a discussion of laws and a judge’s reasoning of how those laws apply to the case at hand. It can also include an order telling the parties to do or not do something.
A Supreme Court decision usually includes a “syllabus” and one or more opinions. The syllabus is a breakdown of the structure and significance of the opinion, such as identifying which existing precedent — holdings from prior Supreme Court cases — applies. It may also describe how the case was decided in lower courts.
The main body of a Supreme Court decision is the majority opinion. This describes the outcome of the case and explains how the Justices reached that decision. Justices often use different rationales to explain their conclusions. The opinion can be a unanimous decision or it can contain “dissents” and “concurrences.” Dissenting opinions generally disagree with the outcome of the case. A concurrence agrees with the majority’s conclusion but offers further comment or clarification.
Whether the decisions are unanimous or not, they can establish legal precedent if they are binding on future judges. In general, a judge will follow precedent unless there are compelling reasons to do otherwise. A judge cites a previous judicial decision when they want to argue that their own application of law or interpretation of the law is similar.