majority opinion

/məˈʤɔrəti əˈpɪnjən/

Other forms: majority opinions

When more than half of the judges on a court agree, that's a majority opinion. In the Supreme Court, it takes at least five justices to form a majority opinion.

Legal cases that are decided by more than one judge require a majority opinion, with most members of the court in agreement. Appeals courts, like the U.S. Supreme Court, usually have an odd number of judges to avoid cases ending in ties. The majority opinion isn't just the number of votes on a case's ruling but also involves the reasoning that brought the majority of justices to that decision.

Definitions of majority opinion

1. noun

   the opinion joined by a majority of the court (generally known simply as `the opinion')
   type of:

   judgement, judgment, legal opinion, opinion

   the legal document stating the reasons for a judicial decision