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Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to  notify  the  Reporter  of 
Decisions,  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  Washington,  D.  C.  20543, 
pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 22–58 
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UNITED STATES, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. 
TEXAS, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT TO THE UNITED 
STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT 

[June 23, 2023] 

JUSTICE KAVANAUGH delivered the opinion of the Court. 
In  2021,  after  President  Biden  took  office,  the 
Department  of  Homeland  Security  issued  new  Guidelines 
for immigration enforcement.  The Guidelines prioritize the 
arrest  and  removal  from  the  United  States  of  noncitizens 
who are suspected terrorists or dangerous criminals, or who 
have  unlawfully  entered  the  country  only  recently,  for 
example.  Texas  and  Louisiana  sued  the  Department  of 
Homeland  Security.    According  to  those  States,  the
Department’s new Guidelines violate federal statutes that 
purportedly  require  the  Department  to  arrest  more 
criminal noncitizens pending their removal.

The  States  essentially  want  the  Federal  Judiciary  to
order the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policy so as to
make  more  arrests.  But  this  Court  has  long held  “that  a
citizen  lacks  standing  to  contest  the  policies  of  the 
prosecuting  authority  when  he  himself 
is  neither 
prosecuted nor threatened with prosecution.”  Linda R. S. 
v. Richard D., 410 U. S. 614, 619 (1973).  Consistent with 
that fundamental Article III principle, we conclude that the
States lack Article III standing to bring this suit.