Glossary
Ripeness
The requirement that a dispute be far enough developed for a court to decide. Courts won't hear cases that depend on contingent future events: the harm has to be actual or imminent, not speculative.
Ripeness keeps courts from issuing advisory opinions on hypothetical situations. If a plaintiff sues to challenge a regulation that hasn't been enforced yet and might never affect them, the case may be unripe.
The line between ripe and unripe can be blurry, especially in cases where someone is trying to avoid having to violate a law in order to challenge it. Courts have developed "pre-enforcement review" doctrines to balance these concerns, but the basic ripeness requirement still operates as a gatekeeper.