In U.S. Supreme Court parlance, a “bad vehicle” is a case whose factual or procedural posture exerts an adverse influence on the legal rule that the justices announce and apply. As we all know, the court does not issue legal rulings sua sponte. Rather, it can only decide specific cases selected from the pool of petitions seeking review at any given time.
Almost all of those petitions have “warts” of some kind — factors that give a real-world gravitational tug to the lofty legal questions being considered. Those factors are often factual or atmospheric issues (like a particularly odious litigant seeking relief), or perhaps procedural quirks, with which the justices must grapple in the course of applying a legal rule. When sufficiently pronounced, those factors can influence the scope and tone of the legal rule itself that is announced.
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