# Citing dissents in majority opinions

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citing-dissents-in-majority-opinions/723461>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 25, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citing-dissents-in-majority-opinions/723461 "2015-06-25T19:15:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citing-dissents-in-majority-opinions/723461/1 "2015-06-25T19:15:43Z")

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In today’s decision in Halbig v. Burwell, Roberts cited Scalia’s dissent in another case to bolster his majority opinion. And this has happened in many gay marriage cases, where lower court judges ruling in favor of gay marriage have cited Scalia’s dissent in the DOMA case.

I know that dissents sometimes become the basis for later rulings overturning the initial ruling. But how common is it for judges to cite a dissent when delivering a ruling that is the opposite of the dissent?

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**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citing-dissents-in-majority-opinions/723461/2 "2015-06-25T20:20:31Z")

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I meant King v Burwell, of course.

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citing-dissents-in-majority-opinions/723461/3 "2015-06-26T05:33:09Z")

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nm

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**Author:** ![TallTrees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TallTrees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TallTrees)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citing-dissents-in-majority-opinions/723461/4 "2015-06-26T18:19:50Z")

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I haven’t read about it in great detail, but I think I saw something that said that that citation was made because Roberts thought that Scalia was contradicting himself.

In other words, Scalia’s writing in the earlier case supported Roberts majority view in the current case, even though Scalia didn’t side with Roberts in the current case. It was a way of highlighting an inconsistency to suggest an error in the current dissenting opinion