Glossary

  • Commerce Clause

    gives Congress the power to regulate commerce (buying and selling) between the states.

  • Commercial relations

    Economic connections, such as trade, buying/selling of goods and services, between two or more entities.

  • Communism

    a political ideology that advocates for a classless system where all property and wealth are owned communally instead of by individuals

  • Communist

    a person who believes in communism, a political ideology that advocates for a classless system where all property and wealth are owned communally instead of by individuals.

  • Compromise of 1850

    Called for the admission of California as a “free state,” provided for a territorial government for Utah and New Mexico, established a boundary between Texas and the United States, called for the abolition of slave trade in Washington, DC, and amended the Fugitive Slave Act.

  • conciliatory

    Intended to gain goodwill or reduce hostility.

  • Concurrence

    An opinion that agrees with the result reached by the majority (the judgment), but that expresses a different analysis, or gives the law or facts a different emphasis in reaching that result.

  • Concurring Opinion

    An opinion that agrees with the result reached by the majority (the judgment), but that expresses a different analysis, or gives the law or facts a different emphasis in reaching that result.

  • conference

    The private meeting of the Justices during which current cases are discussed.

  • Conferences

    Private meetings and discussions between the Supreme Court Justices about pending cases.