Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/490/605/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 04:30:55+00:00

Document:
Among other things, the New Mexico-Arizona Enabling Act of 1910 granted Arizona certain lands, excluding mineral lands, in trust for the support of public schools, and, in § 28, provided that granted lands cannot be sold or leased except upon compliance with certain conditions regarding advertising, bidding, and appraisal. Arizona incorporated these conditions into Article 10 of its Constitution. After this Court held the original mineral land exclusion inapplicable to lands not known to be mineral at the time of the grant, Wyoming v. United States, 255 U. S. 489, Congress passed the Jones Act in 1927, extending the terms of the original grant to encompass all mineral lands. The Enabling Act was also amended in 1936 and 1951 to clarify the procedures for leasing granted lands for specific purposes. The latter amendment expressly extinguished the § 28 restrictions on leases of granted lands for the development of hydrocarbon substances. Arizona's own law governing mineral leases on state lands does not require that the lands be advertised, appraised, or leased for their full appraised value. Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 27-234(B). Respondents, individual taxpayers and a state teachers association, brought a state court suit against the State Land Department and others, seeking a declaration that § 27-234(B) is void on the ground that it does not comply with the provisions of § 28 or § 10 of the Arizona Constitution and requesting appropriate injunctive relief. Petitioners, mineral lessees of state school lands, intervened as defendants. The trial court upheld the statute. The State Supreme Court reversed, ruling that § 27-234(B) is "unconstitutional and invalid as it pertains to nonhydrocarbon mineral leases," and remanded the case for the trial court, inter alia, to enter a judgment declaring § 27-234(B) invalid and to consider what further relief might be appropriate.
155 Ariz. 484, 747 P.2d 1183, affirmed.
1. This Court has jurisdiction to review the decision below. PP. 490 U. S. 610-612, 490 U. S. 617-633.
the trial court does not have before it any federal question whether past or current leases are valid, since respondents, on appeal, withdrew their request for an accounting and payment of sums due under past leases. In addition, the trial court's further actions cannot affect the State Supreme Court's ruling that § 27-234(B) is invalid. Thus, the judgment below comes within two of the exceptions to the finality requirement set out in Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469, 420 U. S. 479, 420 U. S. 480: (1) the federal issue is conclusive and the outcome of further proceedings is preordained, and (2) the federal questions that could come to this Court have been adjudicated by the state court, and the remaining issues will not give rise to any further federal question. Pp. 490 U. S. 611-612.
U.S. 462; Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U. S. 413, particularly since petitioners have already presented this Court with a case or controversy justiciable under federal standards. Pp. 490 U. S. 617-624.
(c) The decision below is not based on an adequate and independent state ground that would defeat review of the federal issue by this Court. Although the state court's opinion mentioned the State Constitution several times and directed the trial court to declare § 27-234(B) "unconstitutional," its discussion focused solely on the federal statutes, without ever mentioning the State Constitution apart from the Enabling Act. Moreover, the state court explicitly considered itself bound by this Court's decisions to adopt the plaintiffs' construction, and described Article 10 of the State Constitution as simply a "rescript" of § 28 of the Enabling Act. Thus, the opinion's references to the State Constitution merely reflect a holding which rests on the state court's interpretation of federal law, and do not divorce the state constitutional issue from the federal law questions. Pp. 490 U. S. 624-625.
2. Section 27-234(B) is invalid as to nonhydrocarbon mineral leases, since the sale or lease of mineral lands granted to Arizona under the federal statutes must substantially conform to the mandatory requirements set out in the Enabling Act. Pp. 490 U. S. 625-633.
(a) The grant of all lands under the Enabling Act is conditioned, by the statute's clear and express language, upon the specific requirements for leasing or selling those lands. Petitioners' reliance on Neel v. Barker, 27 N.M. 605, 204 P. 205, for the proposition that, since mineral lands were originally exempt from the 1910 grant, the Enabling Act's provisions do not apply to lands later determined to be mineral in nature, is flawed in two respects. First, Neel did not take into account this Court's decision in Wyoming v. United States, supra, that unknown mineral lands were within the grant. Second, since those lands were within the 1910 grant, they could not be regarded as unburdened by its mandatory conditions. Pp. 490 U. S. 627-628.
States to lease minerals on whatever terms they wish, as long as the leases' proceeds go to the schools. Rather, it authorizes the States to regulate the methods by which mineral leases are made, and to specify necessary or desirable additional terms, as long as the leases comply with the Enabling Act's dispositional requirements. Pp. 490 U. S. 628-631.
(c) The 1936 and 1951 amendments to the Enabling Act confirm that Congress never removed the original conditions contained in the Act. In the amendments, Congress reiterated the formulation that lands could be leased for certain purposes as the state legislature "may direct" and as it "may prescribe." The 1936 Amendment did not alter the application of § 28 to "all lands," and the 1951 Amendment, because it expressly extinguished the § 28 restrictions as to hydrocarbon leases, but not as to other mineral leases, tends to confirm that the original restrictions remain in force as to nonhydrocarbon leases. Pp. 490 U. S. 631-633.
JUSTICE KENNEDY, joined by THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE STEVENS, and JUSTICE SCALIA, concluded in Part II-B-1 that the suit would have been dismissed at the outset if federal standing-to-sue rules were to apply, since neither respondent taxpayers nor respondent teachers association, the original plaintiffs, would have satisfied the requirements for bringing suit in federal court. Respondent taxpayers' assertion that § 27-234(B) has "deprived the school trust funds of millions of dollars, thereby resulting in unnecessarily higher taxes," and respondent association's allegations that the section "imposes an adverse economic impact" on its members and that teachers have a special interest in the quality of education in the State, do not assert the kind of particular, direct, and concrete personal injury that is necessary to confer standing to sue in federal courts. Pp. 490 U. S. 612-617.
JUSTICE BRENNAN, joined by JUSTICE WHITE, JUSTICE MARSHALL, and JUSTICE BLACKMUN, agreeing that the question whether the state court plaintiffs had Article III standing is irrelevant when it is the defendants below who invoke the federal courts' authority, concluded that it was unnecessary to reach the question of the standing of the plaintiffs below. Pp. 490 U. S. 633-634.
part, in which SCALIA, J., joined, post, p. 490 U. S. 634. O'CONNOR, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
JUSTICE KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part II-B-l.
The ultimate question for our decision is whether Arizona's statute governing mineral leases on state lands is void because it does not conform with the federal laws that originally granted those lands from the United States to Arizona. First, however, there is a difficult question about our own jurisdiction, a matter which touches on essential aspects of the proper relation between state and federal courts.
Various individual taxpayers and the Arizona Education Association, which represents approximately 20,000 public school teachers throughout the State, brought suit in Arizona state court, seeking a declaration that the state statute governing mineral leases on state lands, Ariz. Rev.Stat.Ann. § 27-234(B) (Supp.1988), is void, and also seeking appropriate injunctive relief. The state statute was challenged on the ground that it does not comply with the methods Congress required the State to follow before it could lease or sell the lands granted from the United States in the New Mexico-Arizona Enabling Act of 1910, 36 Stat. 557, and which are repeated in the Arizona Constitution. The suit was brought against the Arizona Land Department and others. ASARCO Incorporated and other current mineral lessees of state school lands were permitted to intervene as defendants. Eventually the trial court certified the case as a defendant class action under Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 23. The defendant class consisted of all present and future mineral lessees of state lands.
The trial court upheld the statute on cross-motions for summary judgment, and respondents (the original plaintiffs) appealed. The Arizona Supreme Court reversed over the dissent of one justice, ruling that the statute is "unconstitutional and invalid as it pertains to nonhydrocarbon mineral leases." Kadish v. Arizona State Land Dept., 155 Ariz. 484, 498, 747 P.2d 1183, 1197 (1987). It remanded the case to the trial court with instructions to enter summary judgment for respondents, to enter a judgment declaring § 27-234(B) invalid, and to consider what further relief, if any, might be appropriate.
Various of the mineral lessees filed a petition for certiorari, and we granted review. 488 U.S. 887 (1988).
we must rule on whether we have jurisdiction in the case. The parties and amici raise three jurisdictional issues, each of substance. We would be required, of course, to raise these matters on our own initiative if necessary, for our legitimate exercise of judicial power is confined both by statutes and by Article III of the Constitution. The issues here are: first, whether the judgment below is final; second, whether there is standing and an actual case or controversy that permits of a decision in federal court; and third, whether the decision below is unreviewable in this Court because it rests on an adequate and independent state ground.
The first jurisdictional question is whether the Arizona Supreme Court issued a final judgment in the case. It granted plaintiffs a declaratory judgment that the state law governing mineral leases is invalid, but then remanded the case for the trial court to determine "just what further relief is appropriate." 155 Ariz., at 498, 747 P.2d at 1197. The Solicitor General, representing the United States as amicus, asserts that the validity of existing leases remains at issue, and that the trial court may yet decide to uphold the leases on the ground that they were made for "true value," and thus are in "substantial conformity" with the provisions of the Enabling Act, § 28, 36 Stat. 574-575, even though the leasing procedures did not comply with every specific requirement in the Act. Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 10-14 (hereafter Brief for United States).
If the assertion were correct, the judgment below would not yet be final within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1257, and we would lack jurisdiction in the case. But it is not correct. Respondents originally sought a declaratory judgment that the state law is invalid, an injunction against further leases, and an accounting and payment of sums due under past leases; but they withdrew the last request on appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court. See Brief for Appellant in Kadish v. Arizona State Land Dept., CV-86-0238-T, p. 6, n. 3, p. 40.
Thus, on remand, the trial court does not have before it any federal question whether past and current leases are valid because they were made in "substantial conformity" with the terms of the Enabling Act. And, of course, the trial court's further actions cannot affect the Arizona Supreme Court's ruling that § 27-234(B) is invalid. Accordingly, the judgment below comes within two of the exceptions to the finality requirement that were set out in Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469 (1975). Here "the federal issue is conclusive" and "the outcome of further proceedings preordained." Id. at 420 U. S. 479; see also Duquesne Light Co. v. Barasch, 488 U. S. 299 (1989). In addition, the "federal questions that could come here have been adjudicated by the State court,'" and the remaining issues, contrary to the Solicitor General's suggestion, will not give rise to any further federal question. Cox, supra, at 420 U. S. 480, quoting Radio Station WOW, Inc. v. Johnson, 326 U. S. 120, 326 U. S. 127 (1945).
The second jurisdictional issue is of some theoretical import, though infrequent in occurrence. The question is whether, under federal standards, the case was nonjusticiable at its outset because the original plaintiffs lacked standing to sue; and if so, whether we may examine justiciability at this stage because the Arizona courts heard the case and proceeded to judgment, a judgment which causes concrete injury to the parties who seek now for the first time to invoke the authority of the federal courts in the case.
The United States contends that the case should be dismissed for lack of standing, since neither respondent taxpayers nor respondent teachers association, who were the original plaintiffs, would have satisfied the requirements for bringing suit in federal court at the outset.
"In essence the question of standing is whether the litigant is entitled to have the court decide the merits of the dispute or of particular issues. "
"Warth v. Seldin, 422 U. S. 490, 422 U. S. 498 (1975). Although standing in its outer dimensions is a prudential concept to be shaped by the decisions of the courts as a matter of sound judicial policy and subject to the control of Congress, at its core it becomes a constitutional question; for standing in its most basic aspect can be one of the controlling elements in the definition of a case or controversy under Article III. See Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State, Inc., 454 U. S. 464, 454 U. S. 471-476 (1982); id. at 454 U. S. 490-494 (BRENNAN, J., dissenting). The standing of respondents if they had filed suit in federal court at the trial level may be resolved by applying well-settled principles of federal law."
"interest in the moneys of the Treasury . . . is shared with millions of others, is comparatively minute and indeterminable; and the effect upon future taxation, of any payments out of the funds, so remote, fluctuating and uncertain, that no basis is afforded for [judicial intervention]."
Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 447, 262 U. S. 487 (1923) (decided with Massachusetts v. Mellon).
We have indicated that the same conclusion may not hold for municipal taxpayers, if it has been shown that the "peculiar relation of the corporate taxpayer to the [municipal] corporation" makes the taxpayer's interest in the application of municipal revenues "direct and immediate." Frothingham, supra, at 262 U. S. 486-487, citing Crampton v. Zabriskie, 101 U. S. 601, 101 U. S. 609 (1880). Yet we have likened state taxpayers to federal taxpayers, and thus we have refused to confer standing upon a state taxpayer absent a showing of "direct injury,"
pecuniary or otherwise. Doremus v. Board of Education of Hawthorne, 342 U. S. 429 342 U. S. 429, 434 (1952).
No such showing has been made in this case, and respondent taxpayers do not allege any special circumstances or exceptions that would confer standing upon them. Instead, they have simply asserted that the Arizona statute governing mineral leases has "deprived the school trust funds of millions of dollars, thereby resulting in unnecessarily higher taxes." Complaint ¦ III. Even if the first part of that assertion were correct, however, it is pure speculation whether the lawsuit would result in any actual tax relief for respondents. If they were to prevail, it is conceivable that more money might be devoted to education; but since education in Arizona is not financed solely from the school trust fund, Tr. or Oral Arg. 8-10, the State might reduce its supplement from the general funds to provide for other programs. The possibility that taxpayers will receive any direct pecuniary relief from this lawsuit is "remote, fluctuating and uncertain," as stated in Frothingham, supra, at 262 U. S. 487, and consequently the claimed injury is not "likely to be redressed by a favorable decision," Valley Forge, supra, at 454 U. S. 472.
policy decisions might be made in different ways by the governing officials, depending on their perceptions of wise state fiscal policy and myriad other circumstances. Whether the association's claims of economic injury would be redressed by a favorable decision in this case depends on the unfettered choices made by independent actors not before the courts, and whose exercise of broad and legitimate discretion the courts cannot presume either to control or to predict. We have much less confidence in concluding that relief is likely to follow from a favorable decision here than we had in cases like Allen v. Wright, 468 U. S. 737 (1984), and Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization, 426 U. S. 26 (1976), where standing was found to be lacking because the probable response of private individuals to explicit tax incentives was judged to be too uncertain to satisfy the redressability prong of federal standing requirements.
injury that is fairly traceable to the challenged conduct and likely to be redressed by the requested relief. Valley Forge, 454 U.S. at 454 U. S. 472.
When the allegations of economic injury are put to one side, the claims made by both the taxpayers and the teachers association reduce to something like the association's contention that the state law undermines "the quality of education in Arizona." Complaint ¦ IV. We cannot say with any certainty that this contention is even likely to be correct. The claims raised here, moreover, are the kind of generalized grievances brought by concerned citizens that we have consistently held are not cognizable in the federal courts. See Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U. S. 95, 461 U. S. 111-112 (1983); Valley Forge, supra, at 454 U. S. 482-487; Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U. S. 727, 405 U. S. 736-740 (1972); see also Schlesinger v. Reservists Comm. to Stop the War, 418 U. S. 208 (1974); United States v. Richardson, 418 U. S. 166 (1974).
Our precedents demonstrate that a party may establish standing by raising claims of noneconomic injury, see, e.g., Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U. S. 91 (1979); Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 409 U. S. 205 (1972); but claims of injury that are purely abstract, even if they might be understood to lead to "the psychological consequence presumably produced by observation of conduct with which one disagrees," Valley Forge, supra, at 454 U. S. 485, do not provide the kind of particular, direct, and concrete injury that is necessary to confer standing to sue in the federal courts. Although the members of the teachers association might argue that they have a special interest in the quality of education in Arizona, such a special interest does not alone confer federal standing. Cf. Sierra Club, supra, at 405 U. S. 739-740. The argument does not succeed in distinguishing the members in this regard from students, their parents, or various other citizens.
articulated by our precedents. It follows that the suit would have been dismissed at the outset, were the federal rule to apply.
But the state judiciary here chose a different path, as was their right, and took no account of federal standing rules in letting the case go to final judgment in the Arizona courts. That result properly follows from the allocation of authority in the federal system. We have recognized often that the constraints of Article III do not apply to state courts, and accordingly the state courts are not bound by the limitations of a case or controversy or other federal rules of justiciability, even when they address issues of federal law, as when they are called upon to interpret the Constitution or, in this case, a federal statute. See, e.g., Pennell v. San Jose, 485 U. S. 1, 485 U. S. 8 (1988); Lyons, supra, at 461 U. S. 113; Doremus, 342 U.S. at 342 U. S. 434; Secretary of State of Md. v. J. H. Munson Co., 467 U. S. 947, 467 U. S. 971 (1984) (STEVENS, J., concurring); Bateman v. Arizona, 429 U.S. 1302, 1305 (1976) (REHNQUIST, J., in chambers); cf. Highland Farms Dairy, Inc. v. Agnew, 300 U. S. 608, 300 U. S. 612 (1937).
Although the state courts are not bound to adhere to federal standing requirements, they possess the authority, absent a provision for exclusive federal jurisdiction, to render binding judicial decisions that rest on their own interpretations of federal law. See 28 U.S.C. § 1738; Grubb v. Public Utilities Comm'n of Ohio, 281 U. S. 470 (1930). Indeed, inferior federal courts are not required to exist under Article III, and the Supremacy Clause explicitly states that "the Judges in every State shall be bound" by federal law. U.S.Const., Art. VI, cl. 2.
The question now arises whether a judgment rendered by the state courts in these circumstances can support jurisdiction in this Court to review the case. At this juncture, petitioners allege a specific injury stemming from the state court decree, a decree which rests on principles of federal law.
Petitioners insist that, as a result of the state court judgment, the case has taken on such definite shape that they are under a defined and specific legal obligation, one which causes them direct injury.
We agree. Although respondents would not have had standing to commence suit in federal court based on the allegations in the complaint, they are not the party attempting to invoke the federal judicial power. Instead, it is petitioners, the defendants in the case and the losing parties below, who bring the case here, and thus seek entry to the federal courts for the first time in the lawsuit. We determine that petitioners have standing to invoke the authority of a federal court, and that this dispute now presents a justiciable case or controversy for resolution here.
Petitioners hold mineral leases that were granted under the state law the Arizona Supreme Court invalidated. Although no accounting of sums due under these leases remains at issue in this particular case, it is undisputed that the decision to be reviewed poses a serious and immediate threat to the continuing validity of those leases by virtue of its holding that they were granted under improper procedures and an invalid law. The state proceedings ended in a declaratory judgment adverse to petitioners, an adjudication of legal rights which constitutes the kind of injury cognizable in this Court on review from the state courts. See, e.g., Nashville, C. & St. L. R. Co. v. Wallace, 288 U. S. 249, 288 U. S. 261-265 (1933). Petitioners are faced with "actual or threatened injury" that is sufficiently "distinct and palpable" to support their standing to invoke the authority of a federal court. Warth, 422 U.S. at 422 U. S. 500, 422 U. S. 501.
"personally ha[ve] suffered some actual or threatened injury as a result of the putatively illegal conduct of the [other party] . . . and that the injury 'fairly can be traced to the challenged action' and 'is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision.'"
Valley Forge, 454 U.S. at 454 U. S. 472 (citations omitted). In addition, petitioners' standing to invoke the authority of this Court is not affected by any of the prudential limitations that have been identified in prior cases. Id. at 454 U. S. 474-475. Indeed, the United States appears to recognize the force of these points. See Brief for United States 20, n. 14 ("[I]n light of the decision below, [petitioners] may now have standing" to invoke the authority of a federal court).
"attempting to secure an abstract determination by the Court of the validity of a statute . . . or a decision advising what the law would be on an uncertain or hypothetical state of facts,"
ibid., as might be the case, for example, if petitioners were seeking review of an advisory opinion rendered through specific mechanisms for obtaining a hypothetical ruling from a state court or other state official. The proceedings here were judicial in nature, and resulted in a final judgment altering tangible legal rights. This proceeding constitutes a cognizable case or controversy. Cf. In re Summers, 325 U. S. 561, 325 U. S. 568-569 (1945).
Although petitioners satisfy the requirements of federal standing and present an actual case or controversy for decision here, the United States contends that this showing is insufficient to support our jurisdiction. The Government suggests that the appropriate order is dismissal, and that petitioners are then free "to bring a declaratory judgment action in federal court" raising these same claims. Brief for United States 20, n. 14. Petitioners counter that, if the Court finds it cannot review the judgment on the merits, the proper course is to vacate the judgment below and remand for appropriate further proceedings, Tr. of Oral Arg. 13-15, as we have done at least on some occasions when a case becomes moot while it is pending on review from a state court, see, e.g., DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 U. S. 312, 416 U. S. 320 (1974). Neither disposition is appropriate here.
If we were to vacate the judgment below on the ground that respondents lacked federal standing when they brought suit initially, that disposition would render nugatory the entire proceedings in the state courts. The clear effect would be to impose federal standing requirements on the state courts whenever they adjudicate issues of federal law, if those judgments are to be conclusive on the parties. That result, however, would be contrary to established traditions and to our prior decisions recognizing that the state courts are not bound by Article III, and yet have it within both their power and their proper role to render binding judgments on issues of federal law, subject only to review by this Court.
Co. of Kansas City v. Swope, 274 U. S. 123, 274 U. S. 130-131 (1927) (proceeding in state court is res judicata if "the constitutional rights asserted, or which might have been asserted in that proceeding, could eventually have been reviewed here"). The predominant interest promoted by this apparent exception to normal preclusion doctrines is to assure that the binding application of federal law is uniform, and ultimately subject to control by this Court. See Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U. S. 24, 418 U. S. 42, n. 13 (1974) (this Court may review a declaratory judgment granted by a state court, for "any other conclusion would unnecessarily permit a state court of last resort, quite contrary to the intention of Congress in enacting 28 U.S.C. § 1257, to invalidate state legislation on federal constitutional grounds without any possibility of state officials who were adversely affected by the decision seeking review in this Court").
in the lower federal courts, and would represent a partial inroad on Rooker-Feldman's construction of 28 U.S.C. § 1257.
specific, and concrete injury to the parties who petition for our review, where the requisites of a case or controversy are also met.
We are not unmindful of the paradox that would result if respondents (plaintiffs below) prevail on the merits, for then they will have succeeded in obtaining a federal determination here that would have been unavailable if the action had been filed initially in federal court. Nonetheless, although federal standing "often turns on the nature and source of the claim asserted," it "in no way depends on the merits of the [claim]." Warth, 422 U.S. at 422 U. S. 500. The rule we adopt is necessary in deference to the States and in response to the petitioning parties who seek this forum to redress a real and current injury stemming from the application of federal law.
We therefore conclude that we may properly decide this case. Petitioners meet the requirements for federal standing under Valley Forge. Because they are the parties first invoking the authority of the federal courts in this case, and an actual case or controversy is before the Court, there is no jurisdictional bar to review. In these circumstances, and having already granted review, we believe the proper course is not to dismiss the case or to vacate the judgment below, but to undertake review of the federal issues on their merits.
A.R.S. § 27-234 unconstitutional and invalid as it pertains to nonhydrocarbon mineral leases." Id. at 498, 747 P.2d at 1197.
We conclude that the opinion below is not based on an adequate and independent state ground. Its discussion focuses solely on the federal statutes, and the State Constitution is never mentioned on its own apart from the Enabling Act. The Arizona Supreme Court explicitly considered itself "bound to adopt the construction advanced by [plaintiffs]" based on the prior decisions of this Court, and described Article 10 of the Arizona Constitution as simply a "rescript" of § 28 of the Enabling Act. Id. at 495-496, 747 P.2d at 1194-1195. In light of this description, the references to the Arizona Constitution simply reflect a holding which rests on the state court's interpretation of federal law. Although the Arizona Supreme Court was free to rest its holding on the State Constitution as an independent ground, the decision below did not divorce the state constitutional issue from the questions of federal law. See Enterprise Irrigation Dist. v. Canal Co., 243 U. S. 157, 243 U. S. 164 (1917); see also 155 Ariz., at 495, 747 P.2d at 1194 ("The Enabling Act is the fundamental and paramount law' in Arizona," quoting Murphy v. State, 65 Ariz. 338, 345, 181 P.2d 336, 340 (1947)).
In sum, we do not lack jurisdiction to review the decision below.
The issue on the merits is whether Arizona may lease mineral lands granted from the United States without meeting the specific requirements imposed by federal statute. We begin with a more detailed review of the statutes in question.
those granted lands in trust and subject to the specific conditions set out in § 28 of the Act, 36 Stat. 574-575. Under the conditions, the granted lands could not be sold or leased except to the highest bidder at a public auction following notice by advertisements in two newspapers weekly for 10 weeks. Leases for a term of five years or less were exempt from the advertising requirement. Lands could not be sold or leased for less than the values set by an appraisal required by the statute. All proceeds derived from the lands would go to a permanent segregated fund, and interest, but not principal, was to be spent for support of public schools. Arizona incorporated those restrictions in its proposed constitution, Ariz. Const., Art. 10, and was admitted to the Union in 1912.
The grant of lands in the Enabling Act specifically excluded mineral lands, §§ 6, 24, 36 Stat. 561-562, 572, but this gave rise to uncertainty about what are known as "unknown" mineral lands, those lands on which minerals were not discovered until after the grant. In two subsequent decisions, this Court held that the exclusion applied only to lands known to be mineral at the time of the grant, and that unknown mineral lands were granted under the Act. Wyoming v. United States, 255 U. S. 489, 255 U. S. 500-501 (1921); United States v. Sweet, 245 U. S. 563, 245 U. S. 572-573 (1918). These holdings in turn spawned numerous disputes over whether lands were known to be mineral at the time they were granted from the Federal Government. See, e.g., Work v. Braffet, 276 U. S. 560, 276 U. S. 561-563 (1928). Title to lands in many Western States was in doubt, and the issue became more difficult to prove as the years passed. Accordingly, in 1927, Congress passed the Jones Act, 44 Stat. 1026, a brief statute that extended the terms of the original grant of lands in the Western States to encompass mineral lands as well. Congress also has amended the Enabling Act twice, each time to clarify the procedures for leasing granted lands for specific purposes. See Act of June 5, 1936, ch. 517, 49 Stat. 1477; Act of June 2, 1951, 65 Stat. 51.
Arizona's own law governing the leasing of state mineral lands, enacted in 1941, requires every such lease to "provide for payment to the state by the lessee of a royalty of five per cent of the net value of the minerals produced from the claim." Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 27-234(B) (Supp.1988). But it does not require those lands to be advertised or appraised before they are leased, and does not require the lands to be leased at their full appraised value. The lands in question here were granted to Arizona either in 1910, by the terms of the Enabling Act itself, or in 1927, under the Jones Act.
"all lands hereby granted . . . shall be by the said State held in trust, to be disposed of in whole or in part only in the manner as herein provided, . . . and that the natural products and money proceeds of any of said lands shall be subject to the same trusts as the lands producing the same."
§ 28, 36 Stat. 574, 575 (emphasis added).
"Disposition of any of said lands, or of any money or thing of value directly or indirectly derived therefrom, . . . in any manner contrary to the provisions of this Act, shall be deemed a breach of trust."
Any such disposition is expressly stated to be "null and void" unless "made in substantial conformity with the provisions of this Act." Ibid. And again, the requirements set forth in the Act apply to "[a]ll lands, leaseholds, timber, and other products of land." Ibid.
"Congress did not intend to grant to the state any mineral lands . . . it follows that the state is not controlled nor restricted by said act in regard to leasing said lands for mineral purposes."
this Act shall be of the same effect as prior grants for the numbered non-mineral sections."
§ 1(a), 44 Stat. 1026 (emphasis added).
direct," with "the proceeds of rentals and royalties therefrom to be utilized for the support or in aid of the common or public schools." 44 Stat. 1026-1027. According to petitioners, therefore, the Jones Act did not impose the same restrictions on mineral lands as did the Enabling Act; on the contrary, it explicitly repudiated any such restrictions on the newly granted lands.
We do not agree with this reading of the Jones Act. First, the suggested interpretation of the "same effect" language would render that language redundant: the statute continues immediately with an additional clause that directly addresses the "vest[ing]" of "titles to such numbered mineral sections." § 1(a), 44 Stat. 1026. Instead, we believe that the "same effect" language has independent meaning, and that it achieved Congress' stated objective of "extend[ing]" the 1910 grants to encompass all mineral lands and of "[c]onfirming" title to such lands in the States. 44 Stat. 1026.
Second, the language of § 1(b) does not undermine the conclusion that § 1(a) of the Jones Act extended the coverage of the Enabling Act's express restrictions as well as of its grant of lands. Section 1(b) says that, though the mineral lands may be sold, the rights to mine and remove the minerals themselves are reserved to the State, and may only be leased. Such leases may be undertaken "as the State legislature may direct." Petitioners would read § 1(b) as containing the sole dispositional restrictions on the newly granted lands, and would read the latter passage as a blanket authority for the States to lease minerals on whatever terms they wish to set, as long as the proceeds of those leases go to the schools.
This interpretation suffers from several defects. To begin with, it does not offer a comprehensive understanding of the statutory regime. Section 1(b) contains no dispositional restrictions on the sale or lease of the newly granted lands except for the provision that the mineral rights on those lands are reserved to the State. If the "same effect" language in § 1(a) does not extend the dispositional restrictions in the Enabling Act to the lands granted in the Jones Act, then those lands are subject to no dispositional restrictions at all, though their mineral rights would be reserved. This is inconsistent with the view that the lands granted under the Jones Act are part of the school trust. Similarly, if the "as the State legislature may direct" language is the blanket authority for which petitioners contend, it would allow minerals to be leased for little or no royalty, and thus would leave room for all the abuses that the establishment of a school trust was designed to prevent.
of these lands "for the exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and other hydrocarbon substances," 65 Stat. 52, though not upon leases for other purposes, such as mineral leases. Thus, the subsequent history of these statutes, to the extent it indicates anything of significance, merely confirms that the original restrictions upon the sale or lease of mineral lands contained in the Enabling Act, and the Jones Act remain undiminished in force.
The Court's treatment of cases that become moot on review from the lower federal courts, as distinct from those that become moot on review from state courts, is illuminating on this point. In the former situation, the settled disposition of a case that has become entirely moot is for this Court to "vacate the judgment below and remand with a direction to dismiss." United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U. S. 36, 340 U. S. 39 (1950). The power to make that disposition is predicated on our "supervisory power over the judgments of the lower federal courts," which "is a broad one." Id. at 340 U. S. 40. In the latter situation, on review of state judgments, the same disposition is not made. Traditionally, where the entire case had become moot, the Court vacated the judgment below and remanded for such further proceedings as the state court might deem appropriate, as in DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 U. S. 312 (1974), since the state courts, not bound by Article III, were free to dispose of the case in a variety of ways, including reinstatement of the judgment. More recently, however, the regular practice in the latter situation has been to dismiss the case and leave the judgment of the state court undisturbed, which evinces a proper recognition that, in the absence of any live case or controversy, we lack jurisdiction, and thus also the power to disturb the state court's judgment. See, e.g., Kansas Gas & Elec. Co. v. State Corp. Comm'n of Kan., 481 U.S. 1044 (1987); Times-Picayune Pub. Corp. v. Schulingkamp, 420 U.S. 985 (1975).
"leaving intact the state court's judgment in favor of [the original plaintiff], the purportedly improper representative of the third party's constitutional rights."
Id. at 463 U. S. 243. In Doremus v. Board Of Education of Hawthorne, 342 U. S. 429 (1952), an appeal brought from state court by a losing taxpayer plaintiff was dismissed, because in that instance the party seeking to invoke the authority of the federal courts was found to lack standing, as would be true of the taxpayer plaintiffs in this case as well. Id. at 342 U. S. 432-435. Yet here respondents are the injured parties who seek to invoke the authority of this Court, and they meet the federal standing requirements.
One possible distinction between mineral leases and the lease of lands for other purposes is that mineral rights can be difficult to appraise, which might make the Enabling Act's provisions less helpful in this setting. But this Court recognized long ago that such rights are subject to valuation in condemnation proceedings, and that, whatever the difficulties may be in making such appraisals with complete accuracy, it does not defeat the existence of a "market value" in mineral rights, and it does not suffice as a reason to depart from the ordinary requirements that the law imposes on such transactions. Montana R. Co. v. Warren, 137 U. S. 348, 137 U. S. 352-353 (1890).
Under the reading of the Jones Act we adopt, there may still be traces of the dual regime, though they are minimized. For example, it might be argued that "the right to prospect for, mine, and remove" minerals on unknown mineral lands can be sold, whereas those same rights on known mineral lands cannot, since the Jones Act's prohibition in this regard is limited to those lands in "the additional grant made by this Act." § 1(b), 44 Stat. 1026. We need not decide in this case, however, whether that reading of the statute is fair or necessary.
In the wake of the enactment of the Jones Act in 1927, the experience of New Mexico is instructive as a contemporaneous reading of the statute. Concerned that the Act had undermined whatever basis there might have been for the decision in Neel v. Barker, 27 N.M. 605, 204 P. 205 (1922), the New Mexico government immediately petitioned Congress to authorize a state plebiscite to codify its holding as law. In response, Congress passed a joint resolution to that effect. Joint Resolution No. 7, ch. 28, 45 Stat. 58. The language of the resolution explicitly permitted New Mexico to waive the advertising, appraisal, and bidding requirements on all mineral leases. This explicit language was conspicuously absent from the Jones Act itself.
"no need to read the Act to impose these restrictions on transfers in which the abuses they were intended to prevent are not likely to occur, and in which the trust may in another and more effective fashion be assured full compensation."
Id. at 385 U. S. 464. Unlike public condemnation proceedings, however, the private sales and leases at issue here are precisely the kinds of transactions addressed by the federal statutes. Ibid.
JUSTICE BRENNAN, with whom JUSTICE WHITE, JUSTICE MARSHALL, and JUSTICE BLACKMUN join, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
of the standing question in Part II-B-l is therefore unnecessary.
CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
"tends to assure that the legal questions presented . . . will be resolved, not in the rarified atmosphere of a debating society, but in a concrete factual context conducive to a realistic appreciation of the consequences of judicial action."
Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State, Inc., 454 U. S. 464, 454 U. S. 472 (1982). For me, absence of standing disposes of this case and requires dismissal of the appeal. Doremus v. Board of Education of Hawthorne, 342 U. S. 429 (1952).
In Doremus, we dismissed an appeal from state court by taxpayers because they lacked standing. The Court now says that, although the Doremus case is good law for plaintiffs who lack standing but lost in the state court on the merits of their federal claim, it is not good law for such plaintiffs who prevailed on the merits of their federal question in the state courts. The fact that such a rule has a very one-sided application does not necessarily mean it is wrong, but it should at least require a very persuasive justification -- a more persuasive one than the Court provides in its opinion.
court proceedings, so far as Article III standing is concerned, was not that the proceedings did not threaten to injure petitioners, but that the operation and enforcement of the challenged statute did not injure plaintiffs-respondents. The subsequent proceedings in the state court have obviously not cured this defect.
One could, of course, analogize the proceedings on certiorari in this Court to the commencement of what might be called the federal phase of the lawsuit, and say that, for such purpose, petitioners are like the plaintiff filing a suit in the federal district court: therefore, it is petitioners' standing, not that of respondents, which should concern us at this stage of the litigation. Certainly some of our mootness cases following United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U. S. 36 (1950), indicate that, where a judgment entered in a lower federal court no longer has a present effect on the parties, we will not only not review the case, but we will direct the vacation of the judgment of the lower courts. But while a present effect of the judgment on the parties may be a necessary condition for continuing federal jurisdiction, I do not believe that it is inevitably a sufficient condition.
were trumped up, or that they were "friendly suits." The shortcoming in each of them was the failure of the plaintiffs to establish actual injury to themselves as a result of the governmental action which they sought to challenge on federal grounds. To have considered their cases on the merits would have required us to decide the questions presented "in the rarified atmosphere of a debating society;" the plaintiffs had simply a generalized grievance about governmental action which they claimed was prohibited by federal statute or by the United States Constitution. And that is really all that the Court has before it in the present case.
review many important decisions on questions of federal law. Therefore, I see no reason why this Court should bend its Article III jurisprudence out of shape to avoid a largely imaginary problem.

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