voluntary cessation
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 345 U.S. 629 - United States v. W. T. Grant Co. · 1953Most cited · 6,138 citing opinions
voluntary cessation of allegedly illegal conduct does not deprive the tribunal of power to hear and determine the case, i.e., does not make the case moot. The case may nevertheless be moot if the defendant can demonstrate that 'there is no reasonable expectation that the wrong will be repeated.' The burden is a heavy one.
How often courts cite the cases defining “voluntary cessation”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “voluntary cessation” — 7,721 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 2 definitions, chronological · 1953–1968
The test for mootness in cases such as this is a stringent one. Mere voluntary cessation of allegedly illegal conduct does not moot a case; if it did, the courts would be compelled to leave the defendant free to return to his old ways. A case might become moot if subsequent events made it absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur.