ASHWANDER RULES

Ashwander rules. A set of  principles outlining the  U.S. Supreme Court’s  policy  of  deciding

constitutional questions only when necessary, and of avoiding a constitutional question if the case

can  be  decided  on  the  basis  of  another  issue.  •  These  rules  were  outlined  in  Justice  Brandeis’s

concurring  opinion  in  Ashwander  v.  Tennessee  Valley  Authority,  297  U.S.  288,  56  S.Ct.  466

(1936).  They  include  the  policy  that  the  court  should  not  decide  a  constitutional  question  in  a

friendly  suit,  should  not  anticipate  a  question  of  constitutional  law,  should  not  create  a  rule  of

constitutional law that is broader than that called for by the facts of the case, should not decide a

constitutional  issue  if  the  case  can  be  decided  on  another  ground,  should  not  rule  on  the

constitutionality  of  a  statute  unless  the  plaintiff  is  harmed  by  the  statute  or  if  the  plaintiff  has

accepted  the  benefits  of  the  statute,  and  should  not  rule  on  the  constitutionality  of  an  act  of

Congress without first analyzing whether the act can be fairly construed in a way that would avoid

the  constitutional  question.  —  Also  termed  Brandeis  rules.  [Cases:  Constitutional  Law    46(1).

C.J.S. Constitutional Law §§ 88–89, 92.][Blacks Law 8th]