In 1973, Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, changed the legal status of abortion by striking down a Texas law that criminalized abortion except as a means of saving the mother’s life. The case pitted individual privacy rights against...
the Constitution
Abortion
Abortion: an overview
Abrogate
Definitions
To formally annul or repeal a law through an act of the legislature, constitutional authority, or custom. In contract and insurance law, it is to rescind or terminate a contract.
In constitutional law, the abrogation doctrine...
Absentee Ballot
Definition
A paper ballot submitted, before an election day and often by mail, by a voter who is unable to attend the official polling station on election day. Also called absentee vote.
Absolute Disparity
Definition
A calculation used to analyze a claim that a jury pool did not represent a fair cross-section of the community. Calculated by subtracting the percentage of a group in the jury pool from the percentage of that group in the general population...
Absolute Privilege
Definition
Absolute privilege, in defamation law, refers to the fact that in certain circumstances, an individual is immune from liability for defamatory statements..
OverviewAbsolute privilege applies to statements made in certain contexts or in...
Abstention
Definition
A federal court's decision not to exercise jurisdiction over a case. The usual goal of abstention is the avoidance of needless conflict with a state court. See Federalism.
Abstention: an overviewAbstention is a doctrine under which...
Abstention Doctrine
See alsoAbstention
Adequate and Independent State Grounds
Refers to the standard used by the Supreme Court to determine if it will hear a case from a state court. The Supreme Court will hear a case from a state court only if the state court judgment turned on federal grounds. It will refuse jurisdiction if...
Admiralty and Maritime Power
In the case Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen, 244 U.S. 205 (1917), the Supreme Court determined that the Necessary and Proper Clause grants to Congress complete and plenary power to fix and determine the maritime laws throughout the country.
See...
Advisory Opinion
A court's nonbinding interpretation of law. It states the opinion of a court upon a legal question submitted by a legislature, government official, or another court. Federal courts cannot issue advisory opinions because of the Constitution's case-or-...