Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-297_4g25.pdf
Page Number: 44

Cite as:  594 U. S. ____ (2021) 

13 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

common-law roots.  According to the majority, courts alone 
have the power to sift and weigh harms to decide whether
they merit the Federal Judiciary’s attention.  In the name 
of protecting the separation of powers, ante, at 7, 14, this 
Court has relieved the legislature of its power to create and 
define rights. 

III 
Even assuming that this Court should be in the business
of second-guessing private rights, this is a rather odd case 
to  say  that  Congress  went  too  far.  TransUnion’s  miscon-
duct here is exactly the sort of thing that has long merited 
legal redress.

As an initial matter, this Court has recognized that the
unlawful  withholding  of  requested  information  causes  “a
sufficiently distinct injury to provide standing to sue.”  Pub-
lic  Citizen  v.  Department  of  Justice,  491  U. S.  440,  449 
(1989);  see  also  Havens  Realty  Corp.,  455  U. S.,  at  374. 
Here,  TransUnion  unlawfully  withheld  from  each  class 
member the OFAC version of his or her credit report that
the class member requested.  And TransUnion unlawfully
failed to send a summary of rights.  The majority’s response
is to contend that the plaintiffs actually did not allege that
they failed to receive any required information; they alleged 
only that they received it in the “wrong format.”  Ante, at 
26. 

That  reframing  finds  little  support  in  the  complaint,
which  alleged  that  TransUnion  “fail[ed]  to  include  the 
OFAC alerts . . . in the consumer’s own files which consum-
ers, as of right, may request and obtain,” and that TransUn-
ion did “not advise consumers that they may dispute inac-
curate OFAC alerts.”  Class Action Complaint in No. 3:12–
cv–00632, ECF Doc. 1 (ND Cal.), p. 5.  It also finds no foot-
ing in the record.  Neither the mailed credit report nor sep-
arate letter provide any indication that a person’s report is
marked with an OFAC alert.  See, e.g., App. 88–94.