Justices Alito and Sotomayor on How Courts Read Dicta
Catching up on Supreme Court oral arguments, I was struck by the following exchange in Royal Canin U.S.A. v. Wullschleger (a case about the effects of post-removal amendments to a complaint) in which Justice Sotomayor suggested that some lower court judges are taking their cues from dicta in Supreme Court opinions.
From the transcript:
JUSTICE ALITO: Well, do you think that—that courts of appeals read our
decisions differently than we may? I mean, you know, I’m—I was on a
court of appeals for 15 years. If I saw a strong dictum in a Supreme Court decision, I
would very likely just salute and
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