What does it mean when say a court rules a matter is "ripe" for litigation?

ready. The issues can now be decided. A lot of people want to use courts before they are ready. For instance, a group of gay people want to sue to prevent the legislature from outlawing sodomy. That is not ripe because it is not clear that the legislation will p. Instead, they should wait until the law is ped and then law enforcement personel indicate that they intent to prosecute some specific person. Now they can seek to enjoin it. Until then it any potential harm was just theoretical.