How to read a Supreme Court opinion
Updated
A Supreme Court decision is usually a single document with several parts written by different authors. Knowing the parts makes a long opinion much faster to read.
The syllabus
Most opinions open with a syllabus, a summary prepared by the Reporter of Decisions. It is a reading aid, not part of the opinion, and the Court says so in a note on the first page. The one-line "Held" summaries you see on SCOTUS Alerts come from the Reporter's office and are labeled as such.
The opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court is the holding: the reasoning a majority of the Justices joined. It is usually signed by one Justice. When no single opinion draws a majority, the lead opinion is a plurality opinion. An opinion issued "per curiam" (by the Court) is unsigned.
Concurrences and dissents
A concurring opinion agrees with the result but adds or changes the reasoning. A dissenting opinion disagrees with the result. Neither is binding, but both are often cited and can preview future cases. The first page of the opinion lists which Justices joined which parts.
From slip opinion to the U.S. Reports
The version posted on decision day is the slip opinion. It can be corrected afterward, and corrected versions are noted on the Court's website. Opinions are later published in preliminary print and finally in the bound volumes of the United States Reports, which is the official citation (for example, Brown v. Board of Education is 347 U.S. 483). On SCOTUS Alerts, a revised slip opinion keeps the original case page and is labeled ✏️ "Revised opinion"; we never alert on a revision as if it were new.