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vague statute

Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court

Definitions from Case Law

From 283 U.S. 359 - Stromberg v. People of State of California · 1931Most cited · 2,440 citing opinions

A statute which upon its face, and as authoritatively construed, is so vague and indefinite as to permit the punishment of the fair use of this opportunity is repugnant to the guaranty of liberty contained in the Fourteenth Amendment.

How often courts cite the case defining “vague statute”

1930194019601980200020202030523

Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “vague statute” — 2,436 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.