hold

V. ir. (held, held) to decide, rule (when the subject is the court or the judge)

see rule

In Brown V. Board of Education, the Supreme Court held that the kind of separate but equal public schooling allowed under Plessy V. Ferguson violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

For more than 40 years, the Supreme Court has held that government-sponsored religious activity is not allowed in public school classrooms.

holding

N. a determination of matter of law that is essential to a judicial decision. Courts make findings of fact and holdings of law.

(opp. dictum)

see ruling

It used to be the case that an endless investigation of the difference between holding and dictum was a central preoccupation of the first year of law school.