context: Thus, the issue of initial removal by a defendant other than the first-served defendant was simply not before the court in McKinney. Therefore, the McKinney court's expression in Footnote 3 regarding the application of SS 1446 in the circumstance where the first-served defendant had not timely filed a notice of removal was gratuitous and unrelated to the issue then before the court. Footnote 3 is classic judicial dictum: "an opinion by a court ... that is not essential to the decision," Black's Law Dictionary 485 (8th ed.2004) and therefore not binding on later panels in this circuit.
citation_a.signal: see also
citation_a.identifier: 508 U.S. 439, 463, n. 11
citation_a.parenthetical: commenting on "the need to distinguish an opinion's holding from its dicta"
citation_a.sentence: Pasquantino, 336 F.3d at 329 (“dicta ... cannot serve as a source of binding authority in American jurisprudence”); see also U.S. Nat’l Bank of Or. v. Indep. Ins. Agents of Am., Inc., 508 U.S. 439, 463, n. 11, 113 S.Ct. 2173, 124 L.Ed.2d 402 (1993) (commenting on “the need to distinguish an opinion’s holding from its dicta”).
citation_b.signal: no signal
citation_b.identifier: 336 F.3d 329, 329
citation_b.parenthetical: "dicta ... cannot serve as a source of binding authority in American jurisprudence"
citation_b.sentence: Pasquantino, 336 F.3d at 329 (“dicta ... cannot serve as a source of binding authority in American jurisprudence”); see also U.S. Nat’l Bank of Or. v. Indep. Ins. Agents of Am., Inc., 508 U.S. 439, 463, n. 11, 113 S.Ct. 2173, 124 L.Ed.2d 402 (1993) (commenting on “the need to distinguish an opinion’s holding from its dicta”).