[Tailgunner Joe]

Obiter Dictum - Latin for "something said in passing." When judges put comments in opinions that are extraneous to the line of reasoning that leads to the decision in the case, the comments are said to be "obiter dictum" or "dicta".

The fact that America is a Christian nation is the basis for the Court's interpretation of the statute in question; it is not "dicta."

[general_re]

Obiter Dictum - Latin for "something said in passing."

Thanks, I know.

The fact that America is a Christian nation is the basis for the Court's interpretation of the statute in question; it is not "dicta."

It is very much dicta - the court's legal reasoning ends with "We find, therefore, that the title of the act, the evil which was intended to be remedied, the circumstances surrounding the appeal to congress, the reports of the committee of each house, all concur in affirming that the intent of congress was simply to stay the influx of this cheap, unskilled labor", and the sailing off into flights of fancy begins immediately thereafter. The basis for the holding was the legislative history of the bill in question. What comes after that is simply Brewer mugging for the crowd, with no precedential value whatsoever.