Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-235_n7ip.pdf
Page Number: 38.0

Cite as:  602 U. S. ____ (2024) 

9 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

agency—not a membership organization at all—had associ-
ational standing to “asser[t] the claims of the Washington
apple  growers  and  dealers  who  form  its  constituency.” 
Hunt, 432 U. S., at 344. 

Despite its continued reliance on associational standing,
the Court has yet to explain how the doctrine comports with
Article III.  When once asked to “reconsider and reject the
principles  of  associational  standing”  in  favor  of  the  class-
action mechanism, the Court justified the doctrine solely by
reference to its “special features, advantageous both to the
individuals  represented  and  to  the  judicial  system  as  a 
whole.”  Automobile Workers, 477 U. S., at 288–289.  Those 
“special  features”  included  an  association’s  “pre-existing 
reservoir of expertise and capital,” and the fact that people 
often join an association “to create an effective vehicle for 
vindicating interests that they share with others.”  Id., at 
289–290.  But,  considerations  of  practical  judicial  policy 
cannot overcome the Constitution’s mandates.  The lack of 
any  identifiable  justification  further  suggests  that  the 
Court should reconsider its associational-standing doctrine. 

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* 

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No party challenges our associational-standing doctrine 
today.  That is understandable; the Court consistently ap-
plies the doctrine, discussing only the finer points of its op-
eration.  See,  e.g.,  Students  for  Fair  Admissions,  Inc.  v. 
President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  College,  600  U. S.  181, 
199–201  (2023).  In  this  suit,  rejecting  our  associational-
standing  doctrine  is  not  necessary  to  conclude  that  the
plaintiffs lack standing.  In an appropriate case, however,
the  Court  should  address  whether  associational  standing
can  be  squared  with  Article  III’s  requirement  that  courts 
respect the bounds of their judicial power.