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<title>Constitutional avoidance</title>

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</style><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-top-image"><span typeof="mw:File"></span></td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title" style="display:block;margin-bottom:0.3em;"><a href="Federal_judiciary_of_the_United_States" title="Federal judiciary of the United States">United States federal</a><br><a href="Civil_procedure" title="Civil procedure">civil procedure</a> doctrines</th></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading" style="background:#ADDFFF;">

<a href="Justiciability" title="Justiciability">Justiciability</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content plainlist" style="padding-top:0.15em;padding-bottom:0.6em;">

<ul><li><a href="Advisory_opinion" title="Advisory opinion">Advisory opinions</a></li>

<li><a href="Standing_(law)" title="Standing (law)">Standing</a></li>

<li><a href="Ripeness" title="Ripeness">Ripeness</a></li>

<li><a href="Mootness" title="Mootness">Mootness</a></li>

<li><a href="Political_question" title="Political question">Political questions</a></li>

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<a href="Federal_jurisdiction_(United_States)" title="Federal jurisdiction (United States)">Jurisdiction</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content plainlist" style="padding-top:0.15em;padding-bottom:0.6em;">

<a href="Subject-matter_jurisdiction" title="Subject-matter jurisdiction">Subject-matter</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist" style="padding-top:0.15em;padding-bottom:0.6em;">

<ul><li><a href="Federal_question_jurisdiction" title="Federal question jurisdiction">Federal question</a></li>

<li><a href="Diversity_jurisdiction" title="Diversity jurisdiction">Diversity</a></li>

<li><a href="Amount_in_controversy" title="Amount in controversy">Amount in controversy</a></li>

<li><a href="Supplemental_jurisdiction" title="Supplemental jurisdiction">Supplemental</a></li>

<li><a href="Removal_jurisdiction" title="Removal jurisdiction">Removal</a></li>

<li><a href="Class_Action_Fairness_Act_of_2005" title="Class Action Fairness Act of 2005"><span class="wrap">Class Action Fairness Act of 2005</span></a></li></ul></td>

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<a href="Personal_jurisdiction" title="Personal jurisdiction">Personal</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist" style="padding-top:0.15em;padding-bottom:0.6em;">

<ul><li><i><a href="In_personam" title="In personam">In personam</a></i></li>

<li><i><a href="Quasi_in_rem_jurisdiction" title="Quasi in rem jurisdiction">Quasi in rem</a></i></li></ul></td>

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<a href="Federalism_in_the_United_States" title="Federalism in the United States">Federalism</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content plainlist" style="padding-top:0.15em;padding-bottom:0.6em;">

<ul><li><a href="Erie_doctrine" title="Erie doctrine"><i>Erie</i> doctrine</a></li>

<li><a href="Abstention_doctrine" title="Abstention doctrine">Abstention</a></li>

<li><a href="Anti-Injunction_Act" title="Anti-Injunction Act">Anti-Injunction Act</a></li>

<li><a href="Sovereign_immunity_in_the_United_States" title="Sovereign immunity in the United States">Sovereign immunity</a></li>

<li><a href="Abrogation_doctrine" title="Abrogation doctrine">Abrogation</a></li>

<li><a href="Rooker%E2%80%93Feldman_doctrine" title="Rooker–Feldman doctrine"><i>Rooker–Feldman</i> doctrine</a></li>

<li><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;"><a href="Adequate_and_independent_state_ground" title="Adequate and independent state ground">Adequate and independent state ground</a></div></li></ul>

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<p><b>Constitutional avoidance</b> is a <a href="Legal_doctrine" title="Legal doctrine">legal doctrine</a> of <a href="Judicial_review_in_the_United_States" title="Judicial review in the United States">judicial review</a> in <a href="United_States_constitutional_law" class="mw-redirect" title="United States constitutional law">United States constitutional law</a> that dictates that <a href="United_States_federal_courts" class="mw-redirect" title="United States federal courts">United States federal courts</a> should refuse to rule on a constitutional issue if the case can be resolved without involving constitutionality. In <i><a href="Ashwander_v._Tennessee_Valley_Authority" title="Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority">Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority</a></i> (1936), the <a href="Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States" title="Supreme Court of the United States">Supreme Court of the United States</a> established a seven-rule test for the <a href="Justiciability" title="Justiciability">justiciability</a> of controversies presenting constitutional questions:

</p>

<ol><li><a href="Collusive_lawsuit" title="Collusive lawsuit">Collusive lawsuit</a> rule: The Court will not [rule] upon the constitutionality of legislation in a friendly, nonadversary, proceeding, declining because to decide such questions "is legitimate only in the last resort, and as a necessity in the determination of real, earnest and vital controversy between individuals. It never was the thought that, by means of a friendly suit, a party beaten in the legislature could transfer to the courts an inquiry as to the constitutionality of the legislative act."</li>

<li><a href="Ripeness" title="Ripeness">Ripeness</a>: The Court will not "anticipate a question of constitutional law in advance of the necessity of deciding it."</li>

<li><a href="Judicial_minimalism" title="Judicial minimalism">Minimalism</a>: The Court will not "formulate a rule of constitutional law broader than is required by the precise facts to which it is to be applied."</li>

<li><a href="Last_resort_rule" title="Last resort rule">Last resort rule</a>: The Court will not [rule] upon a constitutional question, although properly presented by the record, if there is also present some other ground upon which the case may be disposed of. ... [I]f a case can be decided on either of two grounds, one involving a constitutional question, the other a question of statutory construction or general law, the Court will decide only the latter.</li>

<li><a href="Standing_(law)" title="Standing (law)">Standing</a>; <a href="Mootness" title="Mootness">Mootness</a>: The Court will not [rule] upon the validity of a statute upon complaint of one who fails to show that he is injured by its operation.</li>

<li>Constitutional <a href="Estoppel" title="Estoppel">estoppel</a>: The Court will not [rule] upon the constitutionality of a statute at the instance of one who has availed himself of its benefits.</li>

<li>Constitutional avoidance <a href="Canon_(basic_principle)" title="Canon (basic principle)">canon</a>: "When the validity of an act of the Congress is drawn in question, and even if a serious doubt of constitutionality is raised, it is a cardinal principle that this Court will first ascertain whether a construction of the statute is fairly possible by which the question may be avoided."<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ol>

<p>The Supreme Court has referred to the constitutional avoidance doctrine of "paramount importance of constitutional adjudication in our system."<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Framed as <a href="Judicial_restraint" title="Judicial restraint">judicial restraint</a>, this doctrine encourages judges to first address the legality of statutory and regulatory law because legislatures and administrative agencies can easily modify them, as compared to the difficulty of enacting a constitutional amendment.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2></div>

<p>While Associate Justice <a href="Louis_Brandeis" title="Louis Brandeis">Louis Brandeis</a>'s concurring opinion in <i>Ashwander</i> is the primary source of the constitutional avoidance doctrine, <a href="Chief_Justice_of_the_United_States" title="Chief Justice of the United States">Chief Justice</a> <a href="John_Marshall" title="John Marshall">John Marshall</a> had espoused the concept in <i>Ex parte Randolph</i>, 20 F. Cas. 242, 254 (C.C.D. Va. 1833) (No. 11,558).<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Marshall instructed that if such questions "become indispensably necessary to the case," they must be decided, but "if the case may be determined on other points, a just respect for the legislature requires, that the obligation of its laws should not be unnecessarily and wantonly assailed." In <i>Ex parte Randolph</i>, Marshall was <a href="Circuit_riding" title="Circuit riding">circuit riding</a> when he considered a challenge to a congressional act that allowed <a href="United_States_Department_of_the_Treasury" title="United States Department of the Treasury">Treasury agents</a> to issue <a href="Warrant_(law)" title="Warrant (law)">warrants</a> for <a href="Officer_(armed_forces)" title="Officer (armed forces)">military officers</a> who failed to pay and to settle their accounts of public funds. The court concluded that the act did not apply to an officer temporarily acting as the ship's purser because of the death of the regularly-commissioned purser, granting his petition for <a href="Habeas_corpus" title="Habeas corpus">habeas corpus</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Justice Brandeis's concurring opinion in <i>Ashwander</i> provides the most significant formulation of the avoidance doctrine, but his formulation had no effect on the outcome of the case because the Justice concurred in the <a href="Plurality_opinion" class="mw-redirect" title="Plurality opinion">plurality opinion</a>, which considered and decided the properly-presented constitutional issues. In <i>Ashwander</i>, Justice Brandeis identified seven components of the avoidance doctrine.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The Supreme Court expanded on this concept in <i><a href="Railroad_Commission_v._Pullman_Co." title="Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co.">Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co.</a></i> (1941), holding that <a href="Federal_judiciary_of_the_United_States" title="Federal judiciary of the United States">United States federal courts</a> should <a href="Abstention_doctrine#Pullman_abstention" title="Abstention doctrine">abstain</a> from hearing a case in order to allow <a href="State_court_(United_States)" title="State court (United States)">state courts</a> to decide <a href="United_States_Constitution" class="mw-redirect" title="United States Constitution">Constitutional</a> issues that touch on sensitive areas of state social policy.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>In the 1979 case <i><a href="NLRB_v._Catholic_Bishop_of_Chicago" title="NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago">NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago</a></i>, Justice <a href="William_J._Brennan_Jr." title="William J. Brennan Jr.">William J. Brennan Jr.</a> dissented, arguing that if the constitutional issue is not plainly clear in the argument, courts should avoid making the decision based on constitutional questions. In such instances, he argued that courts should decide if a particular interpretation is "fairly possible."<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Justice <a href="John_Paul_Stevens" title="John Paul Stevens">John Paul Stevens</a> called the <i>Ashwander</i> concurrence "one of the most respected opinions ever written by a Member of this Court".<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Brandeis, a leader of the <a href="Progressivism_in_the_United_States" title="Progressivism in the United States">progressive movement</a> prior to his judicial appointment, offered a broad framing of the avoidance doctrine. The doctrine was adopted heartily by Justice <a href="Felix_Frankfurter" title="Felix Frankfurter">Felix Frankfurter</a>, who was attacked as too "liberal" while he was a Harvard scholar and actively supported the <a href="New_Deal" title="New Deal">New Deal</a> programs.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> That tool of judicial restraint espoused by "liberals" was largely inspired by the response of Brandeis and Frankfurter to the conservative "<a href="Judicial_activism" title="Judicial activism">judicial activism</a>" on the Supreme Court in the 1930s, which struck down legislation as infringing on <a href="Freedom_of_contract" title="Freedom of contract">freedom of contract</a> and <a href="Substantive_due_process" title="Substantive due process">substantive due process</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In recent years, conservative jurists have been more likely to cite doctrines of judicial restraint.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<ul><li><a href="Ashwander_rules" class="mw-redirect" title="Ashwander rules">Ashwander rules</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFNolan2014" class="citation report cs1">Nolan, Andrew (September 2, 2014). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43706">The Doctrine of Constitutional Avoidance: A Legal Overview</a> (Report). Congressional Research Service. p. 9. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231230182132/https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43706">Archived</a> from the original on December 30, 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">December 27,</span> 2023</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i><a href="Ashwander_v._Tennessee_Valley_Authority" title="Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority">Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority</a></i>, <a href="List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases%2C_volume_297" title="List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 297">297</a> <a href="United_States_Reports" title="United States Reports">U.S.</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/297/288/#346–348">288, 346–348</a> (1936)</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Rescue Army v. Municipal Court of L.A., 331 U.S. 549, 571 (1947) (reciting a nonexhaustive list of grounds supporting the avoidance doctrine); see also <cite id="CITEREFPaul_A._Freund1957" class="citation book cs1">Paul A. Freund (1957). "Introduction". In Alexander M. Bickel (ed.). <i>The Unpublished Opinions of Mr. Justice Brandeis</i>. University of Chicago Press. p. xvii. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0226046020</bdi>.</cite> <span class="cs1-hidden-error citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{cite book}}</code>: </span><span class="cs1-hidden-error citation-comment">ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)</span> (Judicial self-restraint is premised on an "awareness of the limits of human capacity, the fallibility of judgment, the need for diffusion of power and responsibility, the indispensability of husbanding what powers one has, of keeping within bounds if action is not to outrun wisdom.").</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFBreyer2021" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Stephen_Breyer" title="Stephen Breyer">Breyer, Stephen</a> (2021). <i>The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics</i>. <a href="Cambridge%2C_Massachusetts" title="Cambridge, Massachusetts">Cambridge, Massachusetts</a>: <a href="Harvard_University_Press" title="Harvard University Press">Harvard University Press</a>. pp. <span class="nowrap">73–</span>74. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780674269361</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Ex parte Randolph</i>, 20 F. Cas. 242, 254 (C.C.D. Va. 1833) (No. 11,558).</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Ex parte Randolph</i>, 20 F. Cas. 242 (C.C.D. Va. 1833) (No. 11,558).</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority</i>, 297 U.S. 298, 346–48 (1936).</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite><i><a href="Railroad_Commission_v._Pullman_Co." title="Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co.">Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co.</a></i></cite>, 312 U.S. 496 (S.Ct. 1941).</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFWashington_University_Law_Review1980" class="citation web cs1">Washington University Law Review (January 1980). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2406&context=law_lawreview">"Washington University Law Review: NLRB Has No Jurisdiction Over Lay Teachers in Parochial Schools, NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 440 U.S. 490 (1979)"</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150222013317/http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2406&context=law_lawreview">Archived</a> from the original on 2015-02-22.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Delaware v. Van Arsdall</i>, 475 U.S. 673, 693 (1986) (Stevens, J., dissenting).</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFThomas1960" class="citation book cs1">Thomas, Helen Shirley (1960). <i>Felix Frankfurter: Scholar on the Bench</i>. The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. <span class="nowrap">19–</span>20. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0801806285</bdi>.</cite> <span class="cs1-hidden-error citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{cite book}}</code>: </span><span class="cs1-hidden-error citation-comment">ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)</span></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFUrofsky1991" class="citation book cs1">Urofsky, Melvin I. (1991). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/felixfrankfurter00urof/page/20"><i>Felix Frankfurter: Judicial Restraint and Individual Liberties</i></a>. Twayne's Twentieth-Century American Biography Series. Twayne. pp. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/felixfrankfurter00urof/page/20">20–22</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0805777741</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFLash1975" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Joseph_P._Lash" title="Joseph P. Lash">Lash, Joseph P.</a> (1975). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/fromdiariesoffel00fran/page/57">"Introduction"</a>. <i>From the Diaries of Felix Frankfurter</i>. W. W. Norton & Co. pp. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/fromdiariesoffel00fran/page/57">57–58</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0393074888</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">See, e.g.:

<ul><li><cite id="CITEREFGerald_M._Gallivan1985" class="citation journal cs1">Gerald M. Gallivan (1985). "Supreme Court Jurisdiction and the Wyoming Constitution: Justice v. Judicial Restraint". <i>Land and Water Law Review</i>. <b>20</b>: 159.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFSteven_M._Kahaner1988" class="citation journal cs1">Steven M. Kahaner (1988). "Separation of Powers and the Standing Doctrine: The Unwarranted Use of Judicial Restraint". <i>George Washington Law Review</i>. <b>56</b>: 104.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFChristopher_A._Crain1990" class="citation journal cs1">Christopher A. Crain (1990). "Note, Judicial Restraint and the Non-Decision in Webster v. Reprod. Health Servs". <i>Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy</i>. <b>13</b>: 263.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFLinda_Greenhouse1993" class="citation news cs1">Linda Greenhouse (July 22, 1993). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/22/us/the-supreme-court-a-sense-of-judicial-limits.html">"The Supreme Court: A Sense of Judicial Limits"</a>. <i>The New York Times</i>. p. A1.</cite> (referring to the Ginsburg nomination and noting surprise at a "liberal" jurist espousing techniques of judicial restraint).</li></ul>

</span></li>

</ol></div></div>

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<li><a href="International_legal_theories" title="International legal theories">International legal theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Legality" title="Legality">Principle of legality</a></li>

<li><a href="Principle_of_typicality" title="Principle of typicality">Principle of typicality</a></li>

<li><a href="Pseudolaw" title="Pseudolaw">Pseudolaw</a></li>

<li><a href="Sociology_of_law" title="Sociology of law">Sociology</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align:center;;width:1%"><a href="Jurisprudence" title="Jurisprudence">Jurisprudence</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Adjudication" title="Adjudication">Adjudication</a></li>

<li><a href="Administration_of_justice" title="Administration of justice">Administration of justice</a></li>

<li><a href="Admission_to_practice_law" title="Admission to practice law">Admission to practice law</a></li>

<li><a href="Constitutionalism" title="Constitutionalism">Constitutionalism</a></li>

<li><a href="Criminal_justice" title="Criminal justice">Criminal justice</a></li>

<li><a href="Court-martial" title="Court-martial">Court-martial</a></li>

<li><a href="Disbarment" title="Disbarment">Disbarment</a></li>

<li><a href="Dispute_resolution" title="Dispute resolution">Dispute resolution</a></li>

<li><a href="Lawsuit" title="Lawsuit">Lawsuit/Litigation</a></li>

<li><a href="Legal_opinion" title="Legal opinion">Legal opinion</a></li>

<li><a href="Legal_remedy" title="Legal remedy">Legal remedy</a>

<ul><li><a href="Damages" title="Damages">Damages</a></li>

<li><a href="Deterrence_(penology)" title="Deterrence (penology)">Deterrence (penology)</a></li>

<li><a href="Proportionality_(law)" title="Proportionality (law)">Proportionality</a></li>

<li><a href="Reparation_(legal)" title="Reparation (legal)">Reparations</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Legal_status" title="Legal status">Legal status</a></li>

<li><a href="Judge" title="Judge">Judge</a>

<ul><li><a href="Justice_of_the_peace" title="Justice of the peace">Justice of the peace</a></li>

<li><a href="Magistrate" title="Magistrate">Magistrate</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Judgment_(law)" title="Judgment (law)">Judgment</a></li>

<li><a href="Judicial_activism" title="Judicial activism">Judicial activism</a></li>

<li><a href="Judicial_interpretation" title="Judicial interpretation">Judicial interpretation</a></li>

<li><a href="Judicial_misconduct" title="Judicial misconduct">Judicial misconduct</a>

<ul><li><a href="Kangaroo_court" title="Kangaroo court">Kangaroo court</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Judicial_review" title="Judicial review">Judicial review</a></li>

<li><a href="Jurisdiction" title="Jurisdiction">Jurisdiction</a></li>

<li><a href="Justice" title="Justice">Justice</a></li>

<li><a href="Practice_of_law" title="Practice of law">Practice of law</a>

<ul><li><a href="Attorney_at_law" title="Attorney at law">Attorney</a></li>

<li><a href="Barrister" title="Barrister">Barrister</a></li>

<li><a href="Counsel" title="Counsel">Counsel</a></li>

<li><a href="Lawyer" title="Lawyer">Lawyer</a></li>

<li><a href="Defense_(legal)" title="Defense (legal)">Legal representation</a></li>

<li><a href="Prosecutor" title="Prosecutor">Prosecutor</a></li>

<li><a href="Solicitor" title="Solicitor">Solicitor</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Question_of_law#Question_of_fact" title="Question of law">Question of fact</a></li>

<li><a href="Question_of_law" title="Question of law">Question of law</a></li>

<li><a href="Trial" title="Trial">Trial</a></li>

<li><a href="Trial_advocacy" title="Trial advocacy">Trial advocacy</a></li>

<li><a href="Trier_of_fact" title="Trier of fact">Trier of fact</a></li>

<li><a href="Ultra_vires" title="Ultra vires">Ultra vires</a></li>

<li><a href="Verdict" title="Verdict">Verdict</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align:center;;width:1%">Legal institutions</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Barristers'_chambers" title="Barristers' chambers">Barristers' chambers</a></li>

<li><a href="Bureaucracy" title="Bureaucracy">Bureaucracy</a></li>

<li><a href="Bench_(law)" title="Bench (law)">The bench</a></li>

<li><a href="Civil_society" title="Civil society">Civil society</a></li>

<li><a href="Court" title="Court">Court</a>

<ul><li><a href="Ecclesiastical_court" title="Ecclesiastical court">Ecclesiastical</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Court_of_equity" title="Court of equity">Court of equity</a></li>

<li><a href="Election_commission" title="Election commission">Election commission</a></li>

<li><a href="Executive_(government)" title="Executive (government)">Executive</a></li>

<li><a href="Judiciary" title="Judiciary">Judiciary</a></li>

<li><a href="Law_enforcement" title="Law enforcement">Law enforcement</a>

<ul><li><a href="Law_enforcement_agency" title="Law enforcement agency">Agency</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Legal_education" title="Legal education">Legal education</a>

<ul><li><a href="Law_school" title="Law school">Law school</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Legal_industry_by_country" title="Legal industry by country">Legal industry by country</a></li>

<li><a href="Legislature" title="Legislature">Legislature</a></li>

<li><a href="Military" title="Military">Military</a></li>

<li><a href="Police" title="Police">Police</a></li>

<li><a href="Political_party" title="Political party">Political party</a></li>

<li><a href="Tribunal" title="Tribunal">Tribunal</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align:center;;width:1%">History</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="History_of_the_legal_profession" title="History of the legal profession">History of the legal profession</a>

<ul><li><a href="History_of_the_American_legal_profession" title="History of the American legal profession">History of the American legal profession</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Women_in_law" title="Women in law">Women in law</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow hlist" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"><div>

<ul><li><b><span class="nowrap"><span class="skin-invert-image noviewer" typeof="mw:File"></span> </span><a href="Portal%3ALaw" title="Portal:Law">Law portal</a></b></li>

<li><b><span class="nowrap"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span title="Category"></span></span> </span>Category</b></li>

<li><b><a href="Index_of_law_articles" title="Index of law articles">Index</a></b></li>

<li><b><a href="Outline_of_law" title="Outline of law">Outline</a></b></li></ul>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2025-03-24" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Constitutional_avoidance&oldid=1282132796">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

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