Constitutional Law,
Appellate Practice
Mar. 14, 2022
The ‘advisory opinion’ doctrine of our appellate courts
If you settle a case on appeal and then ask the court to dismiss the case as moot, don’t be surprised, particularly where a decision in the case is imminent, if the court declines to do so and orders you to appear at oral argument because the court has found an issue of public importance that it wants to decide.
David M. Axelrad
Partner
Horvitz & Levy LLP
Email: daxelrad@horvitzlevy.com
UC Hastings COL; San Francisco CA
In 1793, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson sent a letter asking the U.S. Supreme Court to answer 29 questions concerning "construction of our treaties, on the laws of nature & nations, & on the laws of the land." The Supreme Court, in a letter to President George Washington, declined to answer the questions because they did not involve an actual dispute before the court: "The Lines of Separation drawn by the Constitution between the three Departments of Gove...
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