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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   3971 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 2, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Without generating an incident that goes to court, can someone ask for the court or courts to make a ruling based on current law if there isn't an existing one (or rather, a clear one)? If not, why not?

Basically, I'm trying to understand why we can't address unknowns in the legal system sans a court case. My understanding of copyright law, for example, is that there has never been a ruling about the legality of all the meme clips people post online w/o permission from the media owners. Nothing explicitly about that, anyways. Can someone ask for a legal review of that practice?

Generally, the US Constitution requires you to stick your neck out by having "standing" in a "case or controversy" before the judicial system can do anything. Otherwise, judges would be kings, issuing rulings on anything and everything, with no risk on the part of the people bringing suit.

There are some ways to get around that and obtain declaratory judgments.

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