Majority opinion
opinion written by one or more judges for a majority, constituting the court's opinion
In law, a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision.
Not all cases have a majority opinion. Some opinions are unanimous. At other times, the justices voting for a majority decision (e.g., to affirm or reverse the lower court's decision) may have drastically different reasons for their votes, and cannot agree on the same set of reasons. In that situation, several concurring opinions may be written, none of which is the view of a majority of the members of the court. In that instance, the concurring opinion joined by the greatest number of judges is referred to as the plurality opinion.
Normally, appellate courts (or panels) are staffed with an odd number of judges to avoid a tie. Sometimes, and in some jurisdictions, when judicial positions are vacant or a judge has recused themselves from a case, the court may be stuck with a tie, in which case the lower court's decision will be affirmed without comment by an equally divided court. Since 1826, this has been the standard policy of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Majority opinion” is opinion written by one or more judges for a majority, constituting the court's opinion. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Majority, opinion and written, not as a finished interpretation.
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