Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/392/83/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:01:39+00:00

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Although taxpayers generally lack standing to sue, they do have standing to sue when the federal government uses its revenue to violate the Establishment Clause because the federal government has exceeded its constitutional limitations on taxing and spending.
A group of individual taxpayers, including Florence Flast, brought a lawsuit against Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Wilbur Cohen. They claimed that allocating government funds to religious schools violated the Establishment Clause. The federal district court refused to hear their case because they failed to meet the standing requirements for bringing a suit. This appeal thus was brought on procedural grounds.
Douglas would have gone even further than the majority and allowed taxpayer standing more generally, overruling Court precedent in that area.
The two-part test that the Supreme Court established here was designed to open courts to taxpayers without imposing the same burdens on the system that justified the originally strict ban on such actions.
Appellant taxpayers allege that federal funds have been disbursed by appellee federal officials under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to finance instruction and the purchase of educational materials for use in religious and sectarian schools, in violation of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment. Appellants sought a declaration that the expenditures were not authorized by the Act or, in the alternative, that the Act is to that extent unconstitutional, and requested the convening of a three-judge court. A three-judge court ruled, on the authority of Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 447 (1923), that appellants lacked standing to maintain the action.
1. The three-judge court was properly convened, as the constitutional attack, even though focused on the program's operations in New York City, would, if successful, affect the entire regulatory scheme of the statute, and the complaint alleged a constitutional ground for relief, albeit one coupled with an alternative nonconstitutional ground. Pp. 392 U. S. 88-91.
2. There is no absolute bar in Art. III of the Constitution to suits by federal taxpayers challenging allegedly unconstitutional federal taxing and spending programs, since the taxpayers may or may not have the requisite personal stake in the outcome. Pp. 392 U. S. 91-101.
3. To maintain an action challenging the constitutionality of a federal spending program, individuals must demonstrate the necessary stake as taxpayers in the outcome of the litigation to satisfy Art. III requirements. Pp. 392 U. S. 102-103.
(a) Taxpayers must establish a logical link between that status and the type of legislative enactment attacked, as it will not be sufficient to allege an incidental expenditure of tax funds in the administration of an essentially regulatory statute. P. 392 U. S. 102.
limitations on the exercise of the taxing and spending power, and not simply that the enactment is generally beyond the powers delegated to Congress by Art. I, § 8. Pp. 1 392 U. S. 02-103.
4. The taxpayer appellants here have standing consistent with Art. III to invoke federal judicial power, since they have alleged that tax money is being spent in violation of a specific constitutional protection against the abuse of legislative power, i.e., the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Frothingham v. Mellon, supra, distinguished. Pp. 392 U. S. 103-106.
Appellants filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to enjoin the allegedly unconstitutional expenditure of federal funds under Titles I and II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 79 Stat. 27, 20 U.S.C. §§ 241a et seq., 821 et seq. (1964 ed., Supp. II). The complaint alleged that the seven appellants had as a common attribute that "each pay[s] income taxes of the United States," and it is clear from the complaint that the appellants were resting their standing to maintain the action solely on their status as federal taxpayers. [Footnote 1] The appellees, who are charged by Congress with administering the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, were sued in their official capacities.
"that, to the extent consistent with the number of educationally deprived children in the school district of the local educational agency who are enrolled in private elementary and secondary schools, such agency has made provision for including special educational services and arrangements (such as dual enrollment, educational radio and television, and mobile educational services and equipment) in which such children can participate. . . ."
"provide assurance that, to the extent consistent with law, such library resources, textbooks, and other instructional materials will be provided on an equitable basis for the use of children and teachers in private elementary and secondary schools in the State. . . ."
"they prohibit the free exercise of religion on the part of the [appellants] . . . by reason of the fact that they constitute compulsory taxation for religious purposes."
from approving any expenditure of federal funds for the allegedly unconstitutional purposes. The complaint further requested that a three-judge court be convened as provided in 28 U.S.C. §§ 2282, 2284.
The Government moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that appellants lacked standing to maintain the action. District Judge Frankel, who considered the motion, recognized that Frothingham v. Mellon, supra, provided "powerful" support for the Government's position, but he ruled that the standing question was of sufficient substance to warrant the convening of a three-judge court to decide the question. 267 F.Supp. 351 (1967). The three-judge court received briefs and heard arguments limited to the standing question, and the court ruled on the authority of Frothingham that appellants lacked standing. Judge Frankel dissented. 271 F.Supp. 1 (1967). From the dismissal of their complaint on that ground, appellants appealed directly to this Court, 28 U.S.C. § 1253, and we noted probable jurisdiction. 389 U.S. 895 (1967). For reasons explained at length below, we hold that appellants do have standing as federal taxpayers to maintain this action, and the judgment below must be reversed.
"from an order granting or denying . . . an interlocutory or permanent injunction in any civil action, suit or proceeding required by any Act of Congress to be heard and determined by a district court of three judges."
Thus, if the Government is correct, we lack jurisdiction over this direct appeal.
"to prevent a single federal judge from being able to paralyze totally the operation of an entire regulatory scheme . . . by issuance of a broad injunctive order."
City's federally funded programs, that decision would cast sufficient doubt on similar programs elsewhere as to cause confusion approaching paralysis to surround the challenged statute. Therefore, even if the injunction which might issue in this case were narrower than that sought by appellants, we are satisfied that the legislative policy underlying § 2282 was served by the convening of a three-judge court, despite appellants' focus on New York City's programs.
381 U.S. at 381 U. S. 6. See also Florida Lime Growers v. Jacobsen, 362 U. S. 73 (1960); Allen v. Grand Central Aircraft Co., 347 U. S. 535 (1954). The complaint in this case falls within that rule.
Thus, since the three-judge court was properly convened below, [Footnote 4] direct appeal to this Court is proper. We turn now to the standing question presented by this case.
liability, and "thereby take her property without due process of law." 262 U.S. at 262 U. S. 486. The Court noted that a federal taxpayer's "interest in the moneys of the Treasury . . . is comparatively minute and indeterminable," and that "the effect upon future taxation, of any payment out of the [Treasury's] funds, . . . [is] remote, fluctuating and uncertain." Id. at 262 U. S. 487. As a result, the Court ruled that the taxpayer had failed to allege the type of "direct injury" necessary to confer standing. Id. at 262 U. S. 488.
"would be not to decide a judicial controversy, but to assume a position of authority over the governmental acts of another and coequal department, an authority which plainly we do not possess."
"in respect of every other appropriation act and statute whose administration requires the outlay of public money, and whose validity may be questioned."
Id. at 262 U. S. 487. Such a statement suggests pure policy considerations.
To the extent that Frothingham has been viewed as resting on policy considerations, it has been criticized as depending on assumptions not consistent with modern conditions. For example, some commentators have pointed out that a number of corporate taxpayers today have a federal tax liability running into hundreds of millions of dollars, and such taxpayers have a far greater monetary stake in the Federal Treasury than they do in any municipal treasury. [Footnote 8] To some degree, the fear expressed in Frothingham that allowing one taxpayer to sue would inundate the federal courts with countless similar suits has been mitigated by the ready availability of the devices of class actions and joinder under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, adopted subsequent to the decision in Frothingham. [Footnote 9] Whatever the merits of the current debate over Frothingham, its very existence suggests that we should undertake a fresh examination of the limitations upon standing to sue in a federal court and the application of those limitations to taxpayer suits.
words "cases" and "controversies" are two complementary but somewhat different limitations. In part, those words limit the business of federal courts to questions presented in an adversary context and in a form historically viewed as capable of resolution through the judicial process. And in part those words define the role assigned to the judiciary in a tripartite allocation of power to assure that the federal courts will not intrude into areas committed to the other branches of government. Justiciability is the term of art employed to give expression to this dual limitation placed upon federal courts by the "case and controversy" doctrine.
"[j]usticiability is . . . not a legal concept with a fixed content or susceptible of scientific verification. Its utilization is the resultant of many subtle pressures. . . ."
Poe v. Ullman, 367 U. S. 497, 367 U. S. 508 (1961).
framed and necessary for decision from a clash of adversary argument exploring every aspect of a multi-faced situation embracing conflicting and demanding interests."
United States v. Fruehauf, 365 U. S. 146, 365 U. S. 157 (1961). Consequently, the Article III prohibition against advisory opinions reflects the complementary constitutional considerations expressed by the justiciability doctrine: federal judicial power is limited to those disputes which confine federal courts to a role consistent with a system of separated powers and which are traditionally thought to be capable of resolution through the judicial process.
Additional uncertainty exists in the doctrine of justiciability because that doctrine has become a blend of constitutional requirements and policy considerations. And a policy limitation is "not always clearly distinguished from the constitutional limitation." Barrows v. Jackson, 346 U. S. 249, 346 U. S. 255 (1953). For example, in his concurring opinion in Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U. S. 288, 297 U. S. 345-348 (1936), Mr. Justice Brandeis listed seven rules developed by this Court "for its own governance" to avoid passing prematurely on constitutional questions. Because the rules operate in "cases confessedly within [the Court's] jurisdiction," id. at 297 U. S. 346, they find their source in policy, rather than purely constitutional, considerations. However, several of the cases cited by Mr. Justice Brandeis in illustrating the rules of self-governance articulated purely constitutional grounds for decision. See, e.g., Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 447 (1923); Fairchild v. Hughes, 258 U. S. 126 (1922); Chicago & Grand Trunk R. Co. v. Wellman, 143 U. S. 339 (1892). The "many subtle pressures" [Footnote 15] which cause policy considerations to blend into the constitutional limitations of Article III make the justiciability doctrine one of uncertain and shifting contours.
It is in this context that the standing question presented by this case must be viewed and that the Government's argument on that question must be evaluated. As we understand it, the Government's position is that the constitutional scheme of separation of powers, and the deference owed by the federal judiciary to the other two branches of government within that scheme, present an absolute bar to taxpayer suits challenging the validity of federal spending programs. The Government views such suits as involving no more than the mere disagreement by the taxpayer "with the uses to which tax money is put." [Footnote 16] According to the Government, the resolution of such disagreements is committed to other branches of the Federal Government, and not to the judiciary. Consequently, the Government contends that under no circumstances should standing be conferred on federal taxpayers to challenge a federal taxing or spending program. [Footnote 17] An analysis of the function served by standing limitations compels a rejection of the Government's position.
Standing is an aspect of justiciability, and, as such, the problem of standing is surrounded by the same complexities and vagaries that inhere in justiciability.
challenged is a proper party to request an adjudication of a particular issue, and not whether the issue itself is justiciable. [Footnote 21] Thus, a party may have standing in a particular case, but the federal court may nevertheless decline to pass on the merits of the case because, for example, it presents a political question. [Footnote 22] A proper party is demanded so that federal courts will not be asked to decide "ill-defined controversies over constitutional issues," United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U. S. 75, 330 U. S. 90 (1947), or a case which is of "a hypothetical or abstract character," Aetna Life Insurance Co. v. Haworth, 300 U. S. 227, 300 U. S. 240 (1937). So stated, the standing requirement is closely related to, although more general than, the rule that federal courts will not entertain friendly suits, Chicago & Grand Trunk R. Co. v. Wellman, supra, or those which are feigned or collusive in nature, United States v. Johnson, 319 U. S. 302 (1943); Lord v. Veazie, 8 How. 251 (1850).
arise, if at all, only from the substantive issues the individual seeks to have adjudicated. Thus, in terms of Article III limitations on federal court jurisdiction, the question of standing is related only to whether the dispute sought to be adjudicated will be presented in an adversary context and in a form historically viewed as capable of judicial resolution. It is for that reason that the emphasis in standing problems is on whether the party invoking federal court jurisdiction has "a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy," Baker v. Carr, supra, at 369 U. S. 204, and whether the dispute touches upon "the legal relations of parties having adverse legal interests." Aetna Life Insurance Co. v. Haworth, supra, at 300 U. S. 240-241. A taxpayer may or may not have the requisite personal stake in the outcome, depending upon the circumstances of the particular case. Therefore, we find no absolute bar in Article III to suits by federal taxpayers challenging allegedly unconstitutional federal taxing and spending programs. There remains, however, the problem of determining the circumstances under which a federal taxpayer will be deemed to have the personal stake and interest that impart the necessary concrete adverseness to such litigation so that standing can be conferred on the taxpayer qua taxpayer consistent with the constitutional limitations of Article III.
establish that, in ruling on standing, it is both appropriate and necessary to look to the substantive issues for another purpose, namely, to determine whether there is a logical nexus between the status asserted and the claim sought to be adjudicated. For example, standing requirements will vary in First Amendment religion cases depending upon whether the party raises an Establishment Clause claim or a claim under the Free Exercise Clause. See McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U. S. 420, 366 U. S. 429-430 (1961). Such inquiries into the nexus between the status asserted by the litigant and the claim he presents are essential to assure that he is a proper and appropriate party to invoke federal judicial power. Thus, our point of reference in this case is the standing of individuals who assert only the status of federal taxpayers and who challenge the constitutionality of a federal spending program. Whether such individuals have standing to maintain that form of action turns on whether they can demonstrate the necessary stake as taxpayers in the outcome of the litigation to satisfy Article III requirements.
specific constitutional limitations imposed upon the exercise of the congressional taxing and spending power, and not simply that the enactment is generally beyond the powers delegated to Congress by Art. I, § 8. When both nexuses are established, the litigant will have shown a taxpayer's stake in the outcome of the controversy, and will be a proper and appropriate party to invoke a federal court's jurisdiction.
"the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever."
government could employ its taxing and spending powers to aid one religion over another or to aid religion in general. [Footnote 24] The Establishment Clause was designed as a specific bulwark against such potential abuses of governmental power, and that clause of the First Amendment [Footnote 25] operates as a specific constitutional limitation upon the exercise by Congress of the taxing and spending power conferred by Art. I, § 8.
required. However, she lacked standing because her constitutional attack was not based on an allegation that Congress, in enacting the Maternity Act of 1921, had breached a specific limitation upon its taxing and spending power. The taxpayer in Frothingham alleged essentially that Congress, by enacting the challenged statute, had exceeded the general powers delegated to it by Art. I, § 8, and that Congress had thereby invaded the legislative province reserved to the States by the Tenth Amendment. To be sure, Mrs. Frothingham made the additional allegation that her tax liability would be increased as a result of the allegedly unconstitutional enactment, and she framed that allegation in terms of a deprivation of property without due process of law. However, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment does not protect taxpayers against increases in tax liability, and the taxpayer in Frothingham failed to make any additional claim that the harm she alleged resulted from a breach by Congress of the specific constitutional limitations imposed upon an exercise of the taxing and spending power. In essence, Mrs. Frothingham was attempting to assert the States' interest in their legislative prerogatives, and not a federal taxpayer's interest in being free of taxing and spending in contravention of specific constitutional limitations imposed upon Congress' taxing and spending power.
consistent with Article III to invoke federal judicial power when he alleges that congressional action under the taxing and spending clause is in derogation of those constitutional provisions which operate to restrict the exercise of the taxing and spending power. The taxpayer's allegation in such cases would be that his tax money is being extracted and spent in violation of specific constitutional protections against such abuses of legislative power. Such an injury is appropriate for judicial redress, and the taxpayer has established the necessary nexus between his status and the nature of the allegedly unconstitutional action to support his claim of standing to secure judicial review. Under such circumstances, we feel confident that the questions will be framed with the necessary specificity, that the issues will be contested with the necessary adverseness, and that the litigation will be pursued with the necessary vigor to assure that the constitutional challenge will be made in a form traditionally thought to be capable of judicial resolution. We lack that confidence in cases, such as Frothingham, where a taxpayer seeks to employ a federal court as a forum in which to air his generalized grievances about the conduct of government or the allocation of power in the Federal System.
While we express no view at all on the merits of appellants' claims in this case, [Footnote 26] their complaint contains sufficient allegations under the criteria we have outlined to give them standing to invoke a federal court's jurisdiction for an adjudication on the merits.
The complaint alleged that one of the appellants "has children regularly registered in and attending the elementary or secondary grades in the public schools of New York." However, the District Court did not view that additional allegation as being relevant to the question of standing, and appellants have made no effort to justify their standing on that additional ground.
This issue was not raised in the court below, and the Government argued it for the first time in its brief in this Court. The Government claims the inappropriateness of convening a three-judge court became apparent only as the issues in the case have been clarified by appellants. Because the question now presented goes to our jurisdiction on direct appeal, the lateness of the claim is irrelevant to our consideration of it. United States v. Griffin, 303 U. S. 226, 303 U. S. 229 (1938).
The Government also seems to argue that, if any administrative action is suspect, it is the action of state officials, and not of appellees. For example, the Government describes federal participation in the challenged programs as "remote." Brief for Appellees 17. The premise for this argument is apparently that, under 20 U.S.C. § 241e, programs of local educational agencies require only the direct approval of state officials to be eligible for grants. However, appellees are given broad powers of supervision over state participation by 20 U.S.C. § 241f, and it is federal funds administered by appellees that finance the local programs. We cannot characterize such federal participation as "remote."
An additional requirement for the convening of a three-judge court is that the constitutional question presented be substantial. See Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. v. Epstein, 370 U. S. 713 (1962); Ex parte Poresky, 290 U. S. 30 (1933). The Government does not dispute the substantiality of the constitutional attack made by appellants on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. See Flast v. Gardner, 267 F.Supp. 351, 352 (1967).
In at least three cases prior to Frothingham, the Court accepted jurisdiction in taxpayer suits without passing directly on the standing question. Wilson v. Shaw, 204 U. S. 24, 204 U. S. 31 (1907); Millard v. Roberts, 202 U. S. 429, 202 U. S. 438 (1906); Bradfield v. Roberts, 175 U. S. 291, 175 U. S. 295 (1899).
The prevailing view of the commentators is that Frothingham announced only a nonconstitutional rule of self-restraint. See, e.g., Jaffe, Standing to Secure Judicial Review: Private Actions,75 Harv.L.Rev. 255, 302-303 (1961); Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Conference: Public Aid to Parochial Schools and Standing to Bring Suit, 12 Buffalo L.Rev. 35, 48-65 (1962); Davis, Standing to Challenge Governmental Action, 39 Minn.L.Rev. 353, 386-391 (1955). But see Hearings on S. 2097 before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Judiciary Committee, 89th Cong., 2d Sess., 465, 467-468 (1966) (statement of Prof. William D. Valente). The last-cited hearings contain the best collection of recent expression of views on this question.
"Although the Court in the latter part of the opinion used language suggesting that it did not find the elements of a justiciable controversy present in the case, the case in its central aspect turns on application of the judicially formulated [i.e., nonconstitutional] rules respecting standing."
Hearings on S. 2097, supra, n 6, at 503 (statement of Prof. Paul G. Kauper).
See, e.g., Hearings on S. 2097, supra, n 6, at 493 (statement of Prof. Kenneth C. Davis); Note, 69 Yale L.J. 895, 917, and n. 127 (1960).
Judge Frankel's dissent below also noted that federal courts have learned in recent years to cope effectively with "huge litigations" and "redundant actions." 271 F.Supp. at 17.
See, e.g., Commercial Trust Co. v. Miller, 262 U. S. 51 (1923); Luther v. Borden, 7 How. 1 (1849).
See, e.g., United States v. Fruehauf, 365 U. S. 146 (1961); Muskrat v. United States, 219 U. S. 346 (1911).
See, e.g., California v. San Pablo & T. R. Co., 149 U. S. 308 (1893).
See, e.g., Tileston v. Ullman, 318 U. S. 44 (1943); Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 447 (1923).
The rule against advisory opinions was established as early as 1793, see 3 H. Johnston, Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay 486-489 (1891), and the rule has been adhered to without deviation. See United States v. Fruehauf, 365 U. S. 146, 365 U. S. 157 (1961), and cases cited therein.
The logic of the Government's argument would compel it to concede that a taxpayer would lack standing even if Congress engaged in such palpably unconstitutional conduct as providing funds for the construction of churches for particular sects. See Flast v. Gardner, 271 F.Supp. 1, 5 (1967) (dissenting opinion of Frankel, J.). The Government professes not to be bothered by such a result because it contends there might be individuals in society other than taxpayers who could invoke federal judicial power to challenge such unconstitutional appropriations. However, if, as we conclude, there are circumstances under which a taxpayer will be a proper and appropriate party to seek judicial review of federal statutes, the taxpayer's access to federal courts should not be barred because there might be at large in society a hypothetical plaintiff who might possibly bring such a suit.
Hearings on S. 2097, supra, n 6, at 498 (statement of Prof. Paul A. Freund).
Lewis, Constitutional Rights and the Misuse of "Standing," 14 Stan.L.Rev. 433, 453 (1962).
Thus, a general standing limitation imposed by federal courts is that a litigant will ordinarily not be permitted to assert the rights of absent third parties. See, e.g., Heald v. District of Columbia, 259 U. S. 114, 259 U. S. 123 (1922); Yazoo & Miss. Valley R. Co. v. Jackson Vinegar Co., 226 U. S. 217 (1912). However, this rule has not been imposed uniformly as a firm constitutional restriction on federal court jurisdiction. See, e.g., Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U. S. 479, 380 U. S. 486-487 (1965); Barrows v. Jackson, 346 U. S. 249 (1953).
This distinction has not always appeared with clarity in prior cases. See Bickel, Foreword: The Passive Virtues, The Supreme Court, 1960 Term, 75 Harv.L.Rev. 40, 75-76 (1961).
One contemporary commentator advanced such an explanation for the holding in Frothingham, suggesting that the standing rationale was simply a device used by the Court to avoid judicial inquiry into questions of social policy and the political wisdom of Congress. See Finkelstein, Judicial Self-Limitation, 37 Harv.L.Rev. 338, 359-364 (1924).
The Memorial and Remonstrance was Madison's impassioned reaction to a bill introduced in the Virginia General Assembly in 1785 to provide a tax levy to support teachers of the Christian religion. Madison's eloquent opposition to the levy generated strong support in Virginia, and the Assembly postponed consideration of the proposal until its next session. When the bill was revived, it died in committee, and the Assembly instead enacted the famous Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty authored by Thomas Jefferson. The Virginia experience is recounted in S. Cobb, Rise of Religious Liberty in America 490-499 (1902).
Appellants have also alleged that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. This Court has recognized that the taxing power can be used to infringe the free exercise of religion. Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U. S. 105 (1943). Since we hold that appellants' Establishment Clause claim is sufficient to establish the nexus between their status and the precise nature of the constitutional infringement alleged, we need not decide whether the Free Exercise claim, standing alone, would be adequate to confer standing in this case. We do note, however, that the challenged tax in Murdock operated upon a particular class of taxpayers. When such exercises of the taxing power are challenged, the proper party emphasis in the federal standing doctrine would require that standing be limited to the taxpayers within the affected class.
While I have joined the opinion of the Court, I do not think that the test it lays down is a durable one, for the reasons stated by my Brother HARLAN. I think, therefore, that it will suffer erosion, and, in time, result in the demise of Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 447. It would therefore be the part of wisdom, as I see the problem, to be rid of Frothingham here and now.
state support of churches, said the principle was violated when even "three pence" was appropriated to that cause by the Government. [Footnote 2/1] It therefore does not do to talk about taxpayers' interest as "infinitesimal." The restraint on "liberty" may be fleeting and passing, and still violate a fundamental constitutional guarantee. The "three pence" mentioned by Madison may signal a monstrous invasion by the Government into church affairs, and so on.
The constitutional guide is "cases" or "controversies" within the meaning of § 2 of Art. III of the Constitution. As respects our appellate jurisdiction, Congress may largely fashion it as Congress desires by reason of the express provisions of § 2, Art. III. See Ex parte McCardle, 7 Wall. 506. But where there is judicial power to act, there is judicial power to deal with all the facets of the old issue of standing.
Taxpayers can be vigilant private attorneys general. Their stake in the outcome of litigation may be de minimis by financial standards, yet very great when measured by a particular constitutional mandate. My Brother HARLAN's opinion reflects the British, not the American, tradition of constitutionalism. We have a written Constitution, and it is full of "thou shalt nots" directed at Congress and the President, as well as at the courts.
And the role of the federal courts is not only to serve as referee between the States and the center, but also to protect the individual against prohibited conduct by the other two branches of the Federal Government.
"we are entitled to reproach the majoritarian justices of the Supreme Court . . . with straining to be reasonable when they ought to be adamant."
them, forbid them, and make us proud again."
The judiciary is an indispensable part of the operation of our federal system. With the growing complexities of government, it is often the one and only place where effective relief can be obtained. If the judiciary were to become a super-legislative group sitting in judgment on the affairs of people, the situation would be intolerable. But where wrongs to individuals are done by violation of specific guarantees, it is abdication for courts to close their doors.
Marshall wrote in Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 5 U. S. 178, that, if the judiciary stayed its hand in deference to the legislature, it would give the legislature "a practical and real omnipotence." My Brother HARLAN's view would do just that, for, unless Congress created a procedure through which its legislative creation could be challenged quickly and with ease, the momentum of what it had done would grind the dissenter under.
We have a Constitution designed to keep government out of private domains. But the fences have often been broken down, and Frothingham denied effective machinery to restore them. The Constitution, even with the judicial gloss it has acquired, plainly is not adequate to protect the individual against the growing bureaucracy in the Legislative and Executive Branches. He faces a formidable opponent in government, even when he is endowed with funds and with courage. The individual is almost certain to be plowed under unless he has a well organized active political group to speak for him. The church is one. The press is another. The union is a third. But if a powerful sponsor is lacking, individual liberty withers -- in spite of glowing opinions and resounding constitutional phrases.
wait for Congress to give its blessing to our deciding cases clearly within our Article III jurisdiction. To wait for a sign from Congress is to allow important constitutional questions to go undecided and personal liberty unprotected.
There need be no inundation of the federal courts if taxpayers' suits are allowed. There is a wise judicial discretion that usually can distinguish between the frivolous question and the substantial question, between cases ripe for decision and cases that need prior administrative processing, and the like. [Footnote 2/6] When the judiciary is no longer "a great rock" [Footnote 2/7] in the storm, as Lord Sankey once put it, when the courts are niggardly in the use of their power and reach great issues only timidly and reluctantly, the force of the Constitution in the life of the Nation is greatly weakened.
"When all is said and done, one is inclined to think that a rigid constitutional frame is on the whole preferable even if it serves no better purpose than obstructing and embarrassing an over-active Executive."
Individuals' Rights in the Courts of Israel, International Lawyers Convention In Israel, 1958, pp. 201, 228 (1959).
Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments, 2 Writings of James Madison 186 (Hunt ed.1901).
The two clear exceptions are municipal taxpayers' suits in Kansas (see Asendorf v. Common School Dist. No. 102, 175 Kan. 601, 266 P.2d 309 (1954)) and state taxpayers' suits in New York (see Schieffelin v. Komfort, 212 N.Y. 520, 106 N.E. 675 (1914); St. Clair v. Yonkers Raceway, 13 N.Y.2d 72, 242 N.Y.S.2d 43, 192 N.E.2d 15 (1963); but see Kuhn v. Curran, 294 N.Y. 207, 61 N.E.2d 513 (1945)).
See, e.g., Crews v. Beattie, 197 S.C. 32, 14 S.E.2d 351 (1941); Goodland v. Zimmerman, 243 Wis. 459, 10 N.W.2d 180 (1943) (taxpayer may not enjoin state expenditure of $1.49); contra, Richardson v. Blackburn, 41 Del.Ch. 54, 187 A.2d 823 (1963); Woodard v. Reily, 244 La. 337, 152 So.2d 41 (1963).
The estimates of commentators as to how many jurisdictions have specifically upheld taxpayers' suits range from 32 to 40. See generally 3 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise § 22.09 (1958), §§ 22.09-22.10 (1965 Supp.); Jaffe, Standing to Secure Judicial Review: Public Actions, 74 Harv.L.Rev. 1265, 1276-1281 (1961); Comment, Taxpayers' Suits: A Survey and Summary, 69 Yale L.J. 895 (1960); St. Clair v. Yonkers Raceway, 13 N.Y.2d 72, 77-81, 242 N.Y.S.2d 43, 45-49, 192 N.E.2d 15, 16-19 (1963) (dissenting opinion of Fuld, J.).
See, e.g., NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U. S. 449; Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510. As the Court said in Barrows v. Jackson, 346 U. S. 249, 346 U. S. 255, apart from Article III jurisdictional questions, standing involves a "rule of self-restraint for its own governance" which "this Court has developed" itself. And attempts by Congress to confer standing when it is constitutionally lacking are unavailing. Muskrat v. United States, 219 U. S. 346.
"The general indifference of private individuals to public omissions and encroachments, the fear of expense in unsuccessful, and even in successful, litigation, and the discretion of the court have been, and doubtless will continue to be, a sufficient guard to these public officials against too numerous and unreasonable attacks."
Ferry v. Williams, 41 N.J.L. 332, 339 (Sup.Ct. 1879).
These efforts, commencing in 1961, are discussed in S.Rep. No. 85, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., 2-3 (1967), and S.Rep. No. 473, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., 115 (1967). The Senate added such a provision to the Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963, but it did not survive conference. S.Rep. No. 85, at 2. A bill, S. 3, to make certain "establishment" questions reviewable has been reported by the Senate in the Ninetieth Congress.
"Tuition grants to parents of students in church schools is considered by the clerics and their helpers to have possibilities. The idea here is that the parent receives the money, carries it down to the school, and gives it to the priest. Since the money pauses a moment with the parent before going to the priest, it is argued that this evades the constitutional prohibition against government money for religion. This is a diaphanous trick which seeks to do indirectly what may not be done directly."
"Another one is the 'authority.' The state may not grant aid directly to church schools. But how about setting up an authority -- like the Turnpike Authority? The state could give the money to the authority which, under one pretext or another, could channel it into the church schools."
"Yet another favorite of those who covet sectarian subsidies is 'child benefit.' Government may not aid church schools, but it may aid the children in the schools. The trouble with this argument is that it proves too much. Anything that is done for a school would presumably be of some benefit to the children in it. Government could even build church school classrooms, under this theory, because it would benefit the children to have nice rooms to study in."
21 Church & State (June 1968), p. 5 (editorial).
I join the judgment and opinion of the Court, which I understand to hold only that a federal taxpayer has standing to assert that a specific expenditure of federal funds violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Because that clause plainly prohibits taxing and spending in aid of religion, every taxpayer can claim a personal constitutional right not to be taxed for the support of a religious institution. The present case is thus readily distinguishable from Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 447, where the taxpayer did not rely on an explicit constitutional prohibition, but instead questioned the scope of the powers delegated to the national legislature by Article I of the Constitution.
"one of the specific evils feared by those who drafted the Establishment Clause and fought for its adoption was that the taxing and spending power would be used to favor one religion over another or to support religion in general."
"employ a federal court as a forum in which to air his generalized grievances about the conduct of government or the allocation of power in the Federal System."
Ante at 392 U. S. 106.
I agree that Frothingham does not foreclose today's result. I agree that the congressional powers to tax and spend are limited by the prohibition upon Congress to enact laws "respecting an establishment of religion." This thesis, slender as its basis is, provides a direct "nexus," as the Court puts it, between the use and collection of taxes and the congressional action here. Because of this unique "nexus," in my judgment, it is not far-fetched to recognize that a taxpayer has a special claim to status as a litigant in a case raising the "establishment" issue. This special claim is enough, I think, to permit us to allow the suit, coupled as it is with the interest which the taxpayer and all other citizens have in the church-state issue. In terms of the structure and basic philosophy of our constitutional government, it would be difficult to point to any issue that has a more intimate, pervasive, and fundamental impact upon the life of the taxpayer -- and upon the life of all citizens.
would be acceptable as a basis for this challenge. We need not decide this. But certainly, I believe, we must recognize that our principle of judicial scrutiny of legislative acts which raise important constitutional questions requires that the issue here presented -- the separation of state and church -- which the Founding Fathers regarded as fundamental to our constitutional system -- should be subjected to judicial testing. This is not a question which we, if we are to be faithful to our trust, should consign to limbo, unacknowledged, unresolved, and undecided.
On the other hand, the urgent necessities of this case and the precarious opening through which we find our way to confront it, do not demand that we open the door to a general assault upon exercises of the spending power. The status of taxpayer should not be accepted as a launching pad for an attack upon any target other than legislation affecting the Establishment Clause. See concurring opinion of STEWART, J., ante, p. 392 U. S. 114.
* See ante at 392 U. S. 104, n. 24.
that it substitutes for Frothingham, for it seems to me that this new doctrine rests on premises that do not withstand analysis. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
It is desirable first to restate the basic issues in this case. The question here is not, as it was not in Frothingham, whether "a federal taxpayer is without standing to challenge the constitutionality of a federal statute." Ante at 392 U. S. 85. It could hardly be disputed that federal taxpayers may, as taxpayers, contest the constitutionality of tax obligations imposed severally upon them by federal statute. Such a challenge may be made by way of defense to an action by the United States to recover the amount of a challenged tax debt, see, e.g., 3 U. S. United States, 3 Dall. 171; McCray v. United States, 195 U. S. 27; United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. l; or to a prosecution for willful failure to pay or to report the tax. See, e.g., Marchetti v. United States, 390 U. S. 39. Moreover, such a challenge may provide the basis of an action by a taxpayer to obtain the refund of a previous tax payment. See, e.g., Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259 U. S. 20.
exercise its spending powers to "provide for the common Defence and general Welfare." Art. I, § 8, cl. 1. Whatever other implications there may be to that sweeping phrase, it surely means that the United States holds its general funds not as stakeholder or trustee for those who have paid its imposts, but as surrogate for the population at large. Any rights of a taxpayer with respect to the purposes for which those funds are expended are thus subsumed in, and extinguished by, the common rights of all citizens. To characterize taxpayers' interests in such expenditures as proprietary or even personal either deprives those terms of all meaning or postulates for taxpayers a scintilla juris in funds that no longer are theirs.
It does not, however, follow that suits brought by non-Hohfeldian plaintiffs are excluded by the "case or controversy" clause of Article III of the Constitution from the jurisdiction of the federal courts. This and other federal courts have repeatedly held that individual litigants, acting as private attorneys-general, may have standing as "representatives of the public interest." Scripps-Howard Radio v. Comm'n, 316 U. S. 4, 316 U. S. 14. See also Commission v. Sanders Radio Station, 309 U. S. 470, 309 U. S. 477; Associated Industries v. Ickes, 134 F.2d 694; Reade v. Ewing, 205 F.2d 630; Scenic Hudson Preservation Conf. v. FPC, 354 F.2d 608; Office of Communication of United Church of Christ v. FCC, 123 U.S.App.D.C. 328, 359 F.2d 994. Compare Oklahoma v. Civil Service Comm'n, 330 U. S. 127, 330 U. S. 137-139. And see, on actions qui tam, Marvin v. Trout, 199 U. S. 212, 199 U. S. 225; United States ex rel. Marcus v. Hess, 317 U. S. 537, 317 U. S. 546. The various lines of authority are by no means free of difficulty, and certain of the cases may be explicable as involving a personal, if remote, economic interest, but I think that it is nonetheless clear that non-Hohfeldian plaintiffs, as such, are not constitutionally excluded from the federal courts. The problem ultimately presented by this case is, in my view, therefore, to determine in what circumstances, consonant with the character and proper functioning of the federal courts, such suits should be permitted. [Footnote 3/8] With this preface, I shall examine the position adopted by the Court.
As I understand it, the Court's position is that it is unnecessary to decide in what circumstances public actions should be permitted, for it is possible to identify situations in which taxpayers who contest the constitutionality of federal expenditures assert "personal" rights and interests, identical in principle to those asserted by Hohfeldian plaintiffs. This position, if supportable, would, of course, avoid many of the difficulties of this case; indeed, if the Court is correct, its extended exploration of the subtleties of Article III is entirely unnecessary. But, for reasons that follow, I believe that the Court's position is untenable.
the criteria will show, the Court's standard for the determination of standing and its criteria for the satisfaction of that standard are entirely unrelated.
"personal stake" in the suit involving the second is necessarily smaller than it is in the suit involving the first, and that he should therefore have standing in one, but not the other?
Presumably the Court does not believe that regulatory programs are necessarily less destructive of First Amendment rights, or that regulatory programs are necessarily less prodigal of public funds than are grants in aid, for both these general propositions are demonstrably false. The Court's disregard of regulatory expenditures is not even a logical consequence of its apparent assumption that taxpayer plaintiffs assert essentially monetary interests, for it surely cannot matter to a taxpayer qua taxpayer whether an unconstitutional expenditure is used to hire the services of regulatory personnel or is distributed among private and local governmental agencies as grants in aid. His interest as taxpayer arises, if at all, from the fact of an unlawful expenditure, and not as a consequence of the expenditure's form. Apparently the Court has repudiated the emphasis in Frothingham upon the amount of the plaintiff's tax bill, only to substitute an equally irrelevant emphasis upon the form of the challenged expenditure.
powers. [Footnote 3/11] Disregarding for the moment the formidable obscurity of the Court's categories, how can it be said that Mrs. Frothingham's interests in her suit were, as a consequence of her choice of a constitutional claim, necessarily less intense than those, for example, of the present appellants? I am quite unable to understand how, if a taxpayer believes that a given public expenditure is unconstitutional, and if he seeks to vindicate that belief in a federal court, his interest in the suit can be said necessarily to vary according to the constitutional provision under which he states his claim.
The absence of any connection between the Court's standard for the determination of standing and its criteria for the satisfaction of that standard is not merely a logical ellipsis. Instead, it follows quite relentlessly from the fact that, despite the Court's apparent belief, the plaintiffs in this and similar suits are non-Hohfeldian, and it is very nearly impossible to measure sensibly any differences in the intensity of their personal interests in their suits. The Court has thus been compelled simply to postulate situations in which such taxpayer plaintiffs will be "deemed" to have the requisite "personal stake and interest." Ante at 392 U. S. 101. The logical inadequacies of the Court's criteria are thus a reflection of the deficiencies of its entire position. These deficiencies will, however, appear more plainly from an examination of the Court's treatment of the Establishment Clause.
Although the Court does not altogether explain its position, the essence of its reasoning is evidently that a taxpayer's claim under the Establishment Clause is "not merely one of ultra vires," but one which, instead, asserts "an abridgment of individual religious liberty" and a "governmental infringement of individual rights protected by the Constitution." Choper, The Establishment Clause and Aid to Parochial Schools, 56 Calif.L.Rev. 260, 276. It must first be emphasized that this is apparently not founded upon any "preferred" position for the First Amendment, or upon any asserted unavailability of other plaintiffs. [Footnote 3/12] The Court's position is, instead, that, because of the Establishment Clause's historical purposes, taxpayers retain rights under it quite different from those held by them under other constitutional provisions.
"it is impossible to give a dogmatic interpretation of the First Amendment, and to state with any accuracy the intention of the men who framed it. [Footnote 3/14]"
that the number and scope of public actions should be restricted, there are, as I shall show, methods more appropriate, and more nearly permanent, than the creation of an amorphous category of constitutional provisions that the Court has deemed, without adequate foundation, "specific limitations" upon Congress' spending powers.
Apparently the Court, having successfully circumnavigated the issue, has merely returned to the proposition from which it began. A litigant, it seems, will have standing if he is "deemed" to have the requisite interest, and "if you . . . have standing, then you can be confident you are" suitably interested. Brown, Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? -- The School Prayer Cases, 1963 Sup.Ct.Rev. 1, 22.
the Constitution's several commands, but neither can I suppose that such power resides only in the federal courts. We must as judges recall that, as Mr. Justice Holmes wisely observed, the other branches of the Government "are ultimate guardians of the liberties and welfare of the people in quite as great a degree as the courts." Missouri, Kansas & Texas R. Co. v. May, 194 U. S. 267, 194 U. S. 270. The powers of the federal judiciary will be adequate for the great burdens placed upon them only if they are employed prudently, with recognition of the strengths as well as the hazards that go with our kind of representative government.
that the implications of these questions of judicial policy are of fundamental significance for the other branches of the Federal Government.
This does not mean that we would, under such a rule, be enabled to avoid our constitutional responsibilities, or that we would confine to limbo the First Amendment or any other constitutional command. The question here is not, despite the Court's unarticulated premise, whether the religious clauses of the First Amendment are hereafter to be enforced by the federal courts; the issue is simply whether plaintiffs of an additional category, heretofore excluded from those courts, are to be permitted to maintain suits. The recent history of this Court is replete with illustrations, including even one announced today (supra at n. 12), that questions involving the religious clauses will not, if federal taxpayers are prevented from contesting federal expenditures, be left "unacknowledged, unresolved, and undecided."
See, e.g., Davis, Standing to Challenge Governmental Action, 39 Minn.L.Rev. 353; L. Jaffe, Judicial Control of Administrative Action 483-495 (1965).
In particular, I agree, essentially for the reasons stated by the Court, that we do not lack jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1253 to consider the judgment of the three-judge District Court.
I put aside for the moment the suggestion that a taxpayers rights under the Establishment Clause are more "personal" than they are under any other constitutional provision.
See generally Comment, Taxpayers' suits: A Survey and summary, 69 Yale L.J. 895, 905-906.
The phrase is Professor Jaffe's, adopted, of course, from W. Hohfeld, Fundamental Legal Conceptions (1923). I have here employed the phrases "Hohfeldian" and "non-Hohfeldian" plaintiffs to mark the distinction between the personal and proprietary interests of the traditional plaintiff and the representative and public interests of the plaintiff in a public action. I am aware that we are confronted here by a spectrum of interests of varying intensities, but the distinction is sufficiently accurate, and convenient, to warrant its use at least for purposes of discussion.
Cf. Associated Industries v. Ickes, 134 F.2d 694, 704; Reade v. Ewin, 205 F.2d 630, 632.
I agree that implicit in this question is the belief that the federal courts may decline to accept for adjudication cases or questions that, although otherwise within the perimeter of their constitutional jurisdiction, are appropriately thought to be unsuitable at least for immediate judicial resolution. Compare Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U. S. 288, 297 U. S. 345-348 (concurring opinion); H. Wechsler, Principles, Politics, and Fundamental Law 9-15 (1961), and Bickel, Foreword: The Passive Virtues, The Supreme Court, 1960 Term, 75 Harv.L.Rev. 40, 45-47 (1961).
I must note at the outset that I cannot determine with any certainty the Court's intentions with regard to this first criterion. Its use of Doremus v. Board of Education, 342 U. S. 429, as an analogue perhaps suggests that it intends to exclude only those cases in which there are virtually no public expenditures. See, e.g., Howard v. City of Boulder, 132 Colo. 401, 290 P.2d 23. On the other hand, the Court also emphasizes that the contested programs may not be "essentially regulatory" programs, and that the statute challenged here "involves a substantial expenditure of federal tax funds." Ante at 392 U. S. 102, 392 U. S. 103 (emphasis added). Presumably this means that the Court's standing doctrine also excludes any program in which the expenditures are "insubstantial" or which cannot be characterized as a "spending" program.
I am aware that the attack upon the second program would presumably be premised, at least in large part, upon the Free Exercise Clause, and that the Court does not today hold that that clause is within its standing doctrine. I cannot, however, see any meaningful distinction for these purposes, even under the Court's reasoning, between the two religious clauses.
It should be emphasized that the Court finds it unnecessary to examine the history of the Due Process Clause to determine whether it was intended as a "specific limitation" upon Congress' spending and taxing powers. Nor does the Court pause to examine the purposes of the Tenth Amendment, another of the premises of the constitutional claims in Frothingham. But see 22 U. S. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 22 U. S. 199; Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 533, 75 U. S. 541; United States v. Butler, 297 U. S. 1. And compare Everson v Board of Education, 330 U. S. 1, 330 U. S. 6.
"the proper party emphasis in the federal standing doctrine would require that standing be limited to the taxpayers within the affected class."
Ante at 392 U. S. 104, n. 25. Assuming arguendo the existence of such a federal "best plaintiff" rule, it is difficult to see why this rule would not altogether exclude taxpayers as plaintiffs under the Establishment Clause, since there plainly may be litigants under the Clause with the personal rights and interests of Hohfeldian plaintiffs. See, e.g., Board of Education v. Allen, decided today, post, p. 392 U. S. 236.
See, in particular, M. Howe, The Garden and the Wilderness 1-31 (1965); C. Antieau, A. Downey & E. Roberts, Freedom from Federal Establishment (1964). Not all members of the Court have, of course, ignored the complexities of the clause's history. See especially McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U. S. 203, 333 U. S. 238 (dissenting opinion of Reed, J.).
"to treat [Madison's Remonstrance] as authoritatively incorporated in the First Amendment is to take grotesque liberties with the simple legislative process, and even more with the complex and diffuse process of ratification of an Amendment by three-fourths of the states."
Brown, Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? -- The School Prayer Cases, 1963 Sup.Ct.Rev. 1, 8.
I will, of course, grant that claims under, for example, the Tenth Amendment may present "generalized grievances about the conduct of government or the allocation of power in the Federal System." Ante at 392 U. S. 106. I will also grant that it would be well if such questions could be avoided by the federal courts. Unfortunately, I cannot see how these considerations are relevant under the Court's principal criterion, which I understand to be merely whether any given constitutional provision is, or is not, a limitation upon Congress' spending powers. It is difficult to see what there is in the fact that a constitutional provision is held to be such a limitation that could sensibly give the Court "confidence" about the fashion in which a given plaintiff will present a given issue.
The bill was intended to establish "a provision for teachers of the Christian religion." It and the Memorial and Remonstrance are reprinted in Everson v. Board of Education, supra, at 330 U. S. 63-74.
I have equal difficulty with the argument that the religious clauses of the First Amendment create a "personal constitutional right," held by all citizens, such that any citizen may, under those clauses, contest the constitutionality of federal expenditures. The essence of the argument would presumably be that freedom from establishment is a right that inheres in every citizen, thus, any citizen should be permitted to challenge any measure that conceivably involves establishment. Certain provisions of the Constitution, so the argument would run, create the basic structure of our society and of its government, and accordingly should be enforceable at the demand of every individual. Unlike the position taken today by the Court, such a doctrine of standing would at least be internally consistent, but it would also threaten the proper functioning both of the federal courts and of the principle of separation of powers. The Establishment Clause is, after all, only one of many provisions of the Constitution that might be characterized in this fashion. Certain of these provisions, e.g., the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, would provide the basis for cases that, absent a standing question, could not readily be excluded from the federal courts as involving political questions, or as otherwise unsuitable for adjudication under the principles formulated for these purposes by the Court. Compare United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U. S. 75, 330 U. S. 94-96; Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479. Indeed, it might even be urged that the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, since they are largely confirmatory of rights created elsewhere in the Constitution, were intended to declare the standing of individual citizens to contest the validity of governmental activities. It may, of course, also be argued that these amendments are merely "tub[s] for the whale," 1 W. Crosskey, Politics and the Constitution 688 (1953); nut lacking such an argument, any doctrine of standing premised upon the generality or relative importance of a constitutional command would, I think, very substantially increase the number of situations in which individual citizens could present for adjudication "generalized grievances about the conduct of government." I take it that the Court, apart from my Brother DOUGLAS, and I are agreed that any such consequence would be exceedingly undesirable.
See 1 I. Farrand, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, at 21, 97-98, 108-110, 138-140 (1911); 2 Farrand, id. at 73-80.
My premise is, as I have suggested, that non-Hohfeldian plaintiffs as such are not excluded by Article III from the jurisdiction of the federal courts. The problem is therefore to determine in what situations their suits should be permitted, and not whether a "statute constitutionally could authorize a person who shows no case or controversy to call on the courts. . . ." Scripps-Howard Radio v. Comm'n, 316 U. S. 4, 316 U. S. 21 (dissenting opinion). I do not, of course, suggest that Congress' power to authorize suits by specified classes of litigants is without constitutional limitation. This Court has recognized a panoply of restrictions upon the actions that may properly be brought in federal courts, or reviewed by this Court after decision in state courts. It is enough now to emphasize that I would not abrogate these restrictions in situations in which Congress has authorized a suit. The difficult case of Muskrat v. United States, 219 U. S. 346, does not require more. Whatever the other implications of that case, it is enough to note that there, the United States, as statutory defendant, evidently had "no interest adverse to the claimants." Id. at 219 U. S. 361.
I am aware that there is a second category of cases in which the Court has entertained claims by non-Hohfeldian plaintiffs: suits brought by state or local taxpayers in state courts to vindicate federal constitutional claims. A certain anomaly may be thought to have resulted from the Court's consideration of such cases while it has refused similar suits brought by federal taxpayers in the federal courts. This anomaly, if such it is, will presumably continue even under the standing doctrine announced today, since we are not told that the standing rules will hereafter be identical for the two classes of taxpayers. Although these questions are not now before the Court, I think it appropriate to note that one possible solution would be to hold that standing to raise federal questions is itself a federal question. See Freund, in E. Cahn, Supreme Court and Supreme Law 35 (1954). This would demand partial reconsideration of, for example, Doremus v. Board of Education, 342 U. S. 429. Cf. United States v. Raines, 362 U. S. 17, 362 U. S. 23, n. 3; Cramp v. Board of Public Instruction, 368 U. S. 278, 368 U. S. 282; Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186, 369 U. S. 204.
This question was, however, extensively discussed in the course of the debates upon the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 79 Stat. 27. See, e.g., 111 Cong.Rec. 5973, 6132, 7316-7318.

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