less drastic means
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 364 U.S. 479 - Shelton v. Tucker · 1960Most cited · 3,468 citing opinions
even though the governmental purpose be legitimate and substantial, that purpose cannot be pursued by means that broadly stifle fundamental personal liberties when the end can be more narrowly achieved. The breadth of legislative abridgment must be viewed in the light of less drastic means for achieving the same basic purpose.
How often courts cite the case defining “less drastic means”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “less drastic means” — 3,457 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.