The courts
holding
The part of a decision that resolves the case and binds future courts: the legal rule applied to these facts. Everything else is dicta.
In full
Finding the holding is the central skill in reading a case. It is narrower than the opinion's rhetoric and broader than the outcome for these parties. Lower courts are bound by it and free to disregard the rest, so lawyers on both sides argue about where the holding ends, particularly when an opinion says more than it needed to.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.