merely colorable claim
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 271 U.S. 191 - Harrison v. Chamberlin · 1926Most cited · 846 citing opinions
so unsubstantial and obviously insufficient, either in fact or law, as to be plainly without color of merit, and a mere pretense; a claim made in bad faith and without any legal justification
How often courts cite the case defining “merely colorable claim”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “merely colorable claim” — 843 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.