necessary
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 379 U.S. 184 - McLaughlin v. Florida · 1964Most cited · 1,931 citing opinions
racial classification standard
Such a law, even though enacted pursuant to a valid state interest, bears a heavy burden of justification, as we have said, and will be upheld only if it is necessary, and not merely rationally related, to the accomplishment of a permissible state policy.
How the Supreme Court has restated “necessary”
Each Supreme Court definition of “necessary,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “necessary”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “necessary” — 3,123 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases 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.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1952–1966
- ORIGINAL
The payments likewise were 'necessary' in the generally accepted meaning of that word. It was through making such payments that petitioners had been able to establish their business. Discontinuance of the payments would have meant, in 1943 or 1944, either the resumption of the sale of glasses by the doctors or the doctors' reference of their patients to competing opticians who shared profits with them.
ordinary and necessary business expenses
the term 'necessary' imposes only the minimal requirement that the expense be 'appropriate and helpful' for 'the development of the (taxpayer's) business.