Editing Precedent (section)

===Nonprecedential decisions===
{{main|Non-publication of legal opinions in the United States}}

Nonpublication of opinions, or unpublished opinions, are those decisions of courts that are not available for citation as precedent because the judges making the opinion deem the cases as having less precedential value. Selective publication is the legal process which a judge or justices of a court decide whether a decision is to be or not published in [[law reports|a reporter]]. "Unpublished" federal appellate decisions are published in the [[Federal Appendix]]. Depublication is the power of a court to make a previously published order or opinion unpublished.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shafer |first=John |title=LibGuides: Depublication of California Cases: What is Depublication? |url=https://legalresearch.usfca.edu/c.php?g=523805&p=3580747 |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=legalresearch.usfca.edu |language=en}}</ref>

[[Litigation]] that is settled out of court generates no written decision, thus has no precedential effect. As one practical effect, the U.S. Department of Justice settles many cases against the federal government simply to avoid creating adverse precedent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNITED STATES v. WINDSOR |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/12-307 |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |language=en}}</ref>