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In the context of American jurisprudence, a 'facial challenge' is a manner of challenging a statute in court, in which the plaintiff alleges that the statute is always, and under all circumstances, unconstitutional, and therefore void. It is contrasted with an 'as-applied challenge', which alleges that the statute may be, in part, unconstitutional, in redress of specific and particular injury.
:"A facial challenge to a legislative Act is, of course, the most difficult challenge to mount successfully, since the challenger must establish that no set of circumstances exists under which the Act would be valid." ''United States v. Salerno'', 481 U.S. 739, 745 (1987)