at issue

1. In question, under discussion; also, to be decided. For example, Who will pay for the refreshments was the point at issue . [Early 1800s]

2. In conflict, in disagreement, as in Physicians are still at issue over the appropriate use of hormone therapy . This usage, from legal terminology, was defined by Sir William Blackstone ( Commentaries on the Laws of England , 1768), who said that when a point is affirmed by one side and denied by the other, “they are then said to be at issue .”

Example Sentences

At issue is Section 71117 of the Republican-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which imposes nearly $1 trillion in reductions to federal Medicaid healthcare spending for low-income Americans over the next 10 years.

From Los Angeles Times

At issue are laws in California, Hawaii and three other states that generally prohibit carrying guns on private or public property that is open to the public.

From Los Angeles Times

“DHS justifies the conditions by pointing to its broad homeland security mission, but the grants at issue fund programs such as disaster relief, fire safety, dam safety, and emergency preparedness,” the judge in that case wrote.

From Los Angeles Times

At issue in this case is whether the Clippers participated in arranging the side deal beyond simply introducing Aspiration executives to Leonard.

From Los Angeles Times

First, it held that the ICA likely “precludes” the parties’ suit “to enforce the appropriations at issue here.”

From Slate

Related Words

• debatable 
• problematic 
• unresolved 
• unsettled