Also known as: deference · deferential · deferment · deferral · deferred · deferral of judgment
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
To postpone or delay an action or decision until a later time.
To yield to the opinion or authority of another, as when a court accords respect to the judgment of a coordinate branch or lower tribunal.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
To postpone or delay an action or decision until a later time.
To yield to the opinion or authority of another, as when a court accords respect to the judgment of a coordinate branch or lower tribunal.
Destiny Davis, a national from a majority-Muslim country, challenged an executive order barring entry on Establishment Clause grounds. The court applied rational-basis review and upheld the order because the stated national-security purpose was legitimate and the restriction rationally advanced it, even though some statements suggested improper motive.
Diana Delgado, a county employee, sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act after her local government refused overtime pay. The court sustained Congress's extension of the statute to states because states receive protection through the political process rather than judicial limits on federal power.
Deanna Davenport challenged a state medical-emergency exception in an abortion statute. The court declined to defer to the lower federal courts' reading of the provision and reviewed the state-law interpretation de novo.
Delilah Duran attacked a state law regulating contraceptive access. The court declined to defer to the legislature's judgment because the law intruded on protected privacy choices.
Darius Dixon challenged a state law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. The court declined to defer to those policy choices and invalidated the limitation under the Due Process Clause.
Diane Dawson was convicted under a city ordinance restricting extended-family living arrangements. The court declined to defer to the legislature because the ordinance intruded on deeply rooted family choices protected by the Due Process Clause.
Courts defer and apply rational-basis review in immigration and foreign-affairs matters, upholding measures rationally related to a legitimate purpose such as national security.
States receive protection through their participation in the federal political process rather than through judicially enforced limits on federal power.
A court defers to a lower federal court's construction of state law unless the reading constitutes plain error.
…has long been regarded as a virtually exclusive province of the States.” “[T]he Federal Government, through our history, has deferred to state-law policy decisions with respect to domestic relations.” But we need not speculate. When the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, every State limited marriage to one man…