A fortiori
The inference that if a court held a rule applies in a weaker case, it applies with stronger reason to a case that sits higher on the same doctrinal hierarchy; Bridge 7 of the twelve bridges.
First used in The Twelve Bridges
The move has two classical forms: a maiore ad minus, from greater to lesser, and a minore ad maius, from lesser to greater. Its validity depends on a hierarchy that doctrine actually establishes, and on the same constitutional or statutory text governing both cases.
Institute working papers catalogue its characteristic failures. A false hierarchy claims an ordering no authority supports. Dimension mismatch compares along one ordering in the precedent and another in the new case. The ceiling problem tries to extend beyond the top of a hierarchy into a different doctrinal domain. Missing justification leaves unexplained why one case ranks higher, and competing hierarchies order the cases differently.
Each failure has the same cure: retrieve the authority that establishes the ordering before accepting the inference.