Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
Sometimes we approach the idea of obiter dictum as if it were Latin for “Here the court says something I wish it didn’t.” When a judicial opinion includes a statement that hurts our case, we labor to cast it as dicta and we give it the first name “mere.” If the opposing party quotes the statement, we huff about its irrelevance and dismissively proclaim that it can, indeed must, be ignored. We treat dicta as background noise, and we encourage the court to plug its ears and hum.
Recommended Citation
Niehoff, Leonard and Tucker Gribble. "Useful Noise: Understanding Dicta and Knowing What to Do with It." Litigation 52, no. 3 (2026).
Included in
Courts Commons, Judges Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, Legal Writing and Research Commons, Litigation Commons
Comments
© 2026, Published in Litigation 52, no. 3, Spring 2026, by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.