Supreme Court Case Tracker

Glossary

Per curiam

Supreme Court glossaryAll terms

Definition

A per curiam opinion is issued in the name of the Court rather than under a single justice's authorship.

Why it matters

Per curiam opinions can resolve cases quickly or collectively, and the authorship signal differs from a signed opinion.

In practice

The Court uses per curiam form for some merits dispositions, emergency matters, and summary reversals when no single justice signs as author.

Check the vote, separate writings, and procedural posture before inferring how broad the ruling is.

Common confusion

Per curiam does not automatically mean unanimous, minor, or nonprecedential. The effect depends on the opinion itself.

Examples

Before ArgumentsTirza Diaz de Villegas, Petitioner v. Ulysses Diaz de VillegasThis pending petition asks the Supreme Court to review a Florida family-law dispute in which Tirza Diaz de Villegas says she was effectively deprived of meaningful contact with her child. She argues that the Florida appellate court’s unexplained affirmance and its refusal to consider later-discovered evidence denied her due process and meaningful review of her parental-rights claims.Per curiam disposition25-7692 Before ArgumentsGarry Artis Yarborough, Petitioner v. Leslie Cooley Dismukes, Secretary, North Carolina Department of Adult CorrectionGarry Artis Yarborough asks the Supreme Court to review the Fourth Circuit’s denial of a certificate of appealability from the denial of his federal habeas petition. He argues that the court used a one-paragraph unpublished order without meaningfully applying the rule that a certificate should issue when reasonable jurists could debate the district court’s decision.Per curiam disposition25-7622

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