Look up bright-line rule in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A bright-line rule is a clear-cut, easy to make decision. To suggest a relevant news story for the main page, refer to the criteria then add your suggestion at the candidates page. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary is a Wikimedia Foundation project intended to be a free wiki dictionary (hence: Wiktionary) (including thesaurus and lexicon) in every language. ...

In policy debate, it is a topicality standard which argues that the definition is black and white, that one can easily tell whether or not a specific circumstance meets the definition.

In law a bright-line rule, or bright-line test, is a legal precident which is easy to apply and find how a judge will rule. Bright-line rules are often contrasted with "squishy" balancing tests. There is a sharp division over the validity and use of one in preference for the other. Over the course of the last three decades in many bright-line rules previously established in U.S. jurisprudence have been replaced with balancing tests though some, such as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, feel that bright-line rules are superior. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... To become a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, an individual must be nominated by the President of the United States and approved by the U.S. Senate, with at least half of that body approving in the affirmative. ... Antonin Gregory Scalia (born March 11, 1936) is an American jurist who has been a prominent conservative and originalist voice on the Supreme Court of the United States of America, and one of the most outspoken advocates of textualism in statutory interpretation and original meaning in constitutional interpretation. ...

Bright Line Rules

• Miranda v. Arizona
• Goldberg v. Kelly
• Storer Doctrine
• SEC v. Chenery Corp., 332 U.S. 194 (1947)
• National Petroleum Refiners Assn. v. FTC, 482 F.2d 672 (D.C. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 951 (1974)
• Heckler v. Campbell, 461 U.S. 458 (1983)
• Bowen v. Georgetown University Hospital, 488 U.S. 204 (1988)
• Sameena, Inc. v. U.S. Air Force, 147 F.3d 1148 9th Cir. (1998)

Holding The fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination requires law enforcement officials to advise a suspect interrogated in custody of his rights to remain silent and to obtain an attorney. ... In Goldberg v. ...

External link

• Language Log Discussion of the phrase, with examples and history