Glossary card
DIG
Definition
DIG means dismissed as improvidently granted: the Court drops a case after deciding it should not have granted review.
Why it matters
A DIG can leave the lower-court judgment in place without producing a Supreme Court merits ruling.
In practice
The Court may DIG after briefing or argument when a vehicle problem, jurisdictional defect, or changed posture makes the case a poor vehicle.
Read a DIG as a procedural exit; it usually preserves the lower-court result without endorsing its reasoning.
Common confusion
A DIG is not the same as affirming the lower court's reasoning. It usually says less about the merits.
Live examples
No published examples yet.