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Cases, Controversies, and Advisory Opinions

Learn about what constitutes a justiciable federal court case or controversy and the prohibition against the issuance of advisory opinions.

Transcript

I.          Introduction

In other lessons, we discuss the ways in which federal courts may have jurisdiction over a claim. But jurisdiction alone isn’t enough to give a federal court the authority to decide a claim. The claim must also be justiciable. Justiciability is the quality that makes a dispute a case. Whether a claim is justiciable is determined by both constitutional and judicially created rules. The justiciability doctrines are designed to...