Glossary · General
Negative Treatment
- Type
- Glossary
- Jurisdiction
- National
- Date
- 2026-09-23
- Topic
- General
What a later authority has done to weaken or destroy an earlier one: overruling, reversing or vacating it, declining to follow it, criticizing or questioning it, or a statute that supersedes it. Citators mark negative treatment with a red or yellow flag; red means the authority is no longer good law for at least one point, yellow means later courts have questioned or limited it.
Definition
What a later authority has done to weaken or destroy an earlier one: overruling, reversing or vacating it, declining to follow it, criticizing or questioning it, or a statute that supersedes it. Citators mark negative treatment with a red or yellow flag; red means the authority is no longer good law for at least one point, yellow means later courts have questioned or limited it.
Negative Treatment. What a later authority has done to weaken or destroy an earlier one: overruling, reversing or vacating it, declining to follow it, criticizing or questioning it, or a statute that supersedes it. Citators mark negative treatment with a red or yellow flag; red means the authority is no longer good law for at least one point, yellow means later courts have questioned or limited it. Example: The case carried a red flag for negative treatment — a later Supreme Court decision had overruled its central holding.