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Simple English definitions for legal terms

Marks rule

Read a random definition: federal

A quick definition of Marks rule:

MARKS RULE: When the Supreme Court can't agree on a decision, the opinion of the justices who agree on the narrowest legal standard is considered the official decision. This is called the Marks rule, and it helps to clarify what the Court actually decided.

A more thorough explanation:

Marks rule is a legal doctrine that applies when the U.S. Supreme Court issues a fractured, plurality opinion. In this situation, the opinion of the justices who agree on the narrowest grounds is considered the Court's holding. This means that the legal standard with which a majority of the Court would agree becomes the official decision.

For example, if the Supreme Court hears a case and issues a 5-4 decision with three different opinions, the Marks rule would apply. The opinion that is supported by at least five justices and has the narrowest legal reasoning would become the official holding of the Court.

The Marks rule was established in the case of Marks v. United States in 1977. In that case, the Court had issued a fractured opinion with no clear majority, and the Marks rule was used to determine the official holding.

marksman | mark up

General

General chat about the legal profession.

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WorthlessAttractiveZombie

9:35

it sent a million times lol

jackfrost11770

9:35

WHAT HAPPENED

TheAdoptedOne

9:35

yeah i thought you were tweaking for a second

jackfrost11770

9:35

i'm so sorry everyone what the actual fuck this website hates me

WorthlessAttractiveZombie

9:35

Jack's just tweaking on LSD no biggie

jackfrost11770

9:36

to be fair this accurately represents my mental state

KnowledgeableRitzyWasp

9:37

election day psychosis coming in hot (fordham)

jackfrost11770

9:38

usc pls pull through .....

jackfrost11770

9:38

i literally just need one A so i can relax before my ED decision

WorthlessAttractiveZombie

9:38

oh that's right USC might release

soapy

9:43

USC still has not looked at my app

WorthlessAttractiveZombie

9:43

when did you submit soapy?

soapy

9:44

10/16

WorthlessAttractiveZombie

9:44

to be fair it took them almost 2 months for me to go under review

soapy

9:44

Feelin a bit stressed, as I've got no date change for Michigan either despite applying 10/7

WorthlessAttractiveZombie

9:45

I have not had a date change either for Mich but I've seen people get in without one so who knows

TheAdoptedOne

9:46

I applied 9/25 to like 6 schools and some (Houston) have no date change yet so dw

soapy

9:46

But do people get in without addresses going long?

WorthlessAttractiveZombie

9:46

it's tough to tell because a lot of people type out their addresses long to begin with

soapy

9:46

Ah. I didn't. Looking back, my Mich supplement kind of sucks, so there's that

TheAdoptedOne

9:54

Mich overrated (Dean Z please let me in even tho i didnt apply and I am below both 25ths)

ClassyPleasantHeron

10:01

The "date changes" at Michigan really don't mean anything. We had to do them in undergrad admissions whenever a Georgia applicant picked the country instead of the state, because we'd have to remove the TOEFL requirement and reassign the application from the international application readers.

soapy

10:06

Classy, does that mean they may look at your application, and that look doesn't necessarily trigger any date change?

1a2b3c4d26z

10:06

Man

1a2b3c4d26z

10:07

Walkin to the bus

1a2b3c4d26z

10:07

What a good day to get into law school

ClassyPleasantHeron

10:11

@soapy: I don't know for sure about the law school. For undergrad, once the application is complete, it's assigned to a reader the following Monday. If we had to make any changes, it's because a reader saw something that needed to be changed and the application needed to be re-read after that change.

soapy

10:12

Ahh, got it. Thank you for the insight!

ClassyPleasantHeron

10:14

You're welcome. FWIW, I have no idea what's up with the address changes. We didn't have to do any of that, except for the Georgia state vs country kinds of things.

soapy

10:15

I've heard it theorized that some schools will change the address from "St." --> "Street" as they prepare to send out admissions packets. That's the rumor, anyways.

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