Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/107866/steel-co-vs-citizens-better-environment
Timestamp: 2019-12-10 04:58:15
Document Index: 144558977

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 11046', '§ 11046', '§ 11046', '§ 11046', '§ 1350', '§ 13', '§ 2622', '§ 11046', '§ 11046', '§ 11046', '§ 11046', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 11001', '§ 2', '§ 11046', '§ 13371', '§ 1337', '§ 11001']

Steel Co Vs Citizens for Better Environment - Citation 107866 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Steel Co. Vs. Citizens for Better Environment - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/107866
Case Number 523 U.S. 83
Appellant Steel Co.
Respondent Citizens for Better Environment
steel co. v. citizens for better environment - 523 u.s. 83 (1998) october term, 1997 syllabus steel co., aka chicago steel & pickling co. v. citizens for a better environment certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the seventh circuit no. 96-643. argued october 6, 1997-decided march 4, 1998 alleging that petitioner manufacturer had violated the emergency planning and community right-to-know act of 1986 (epcra) by failing to file timely toxic- and hazardous-chemical storage and emission reports for past years, respondent environmental protection organization filed this private enforcement action for declaratory and injunctive relief under epcra's citizen-suit provision, 42 u. s. c. § 11046(a)(1). the district court held that, because.....
Steel Co. v. Citizens for Better Environment - 523 U.S. 83 (1998)
(a) The merits issue in this case-whether § 11046(a) permits citizen suits for purely past violations-is not also "jurisdictional," and so does not occupy the same status as standing to sue as a question that must be resolved first. It is firmly established that a district court's subjectmatter jurisdiction is not defeated by the absence of a valid (as opposed to arguable) cause of action, see, e. g., Bell v. Hood, 327 U. S. 678 , 682. Subject-matter jurisdiction exists if the right to recover will be sustained under one reading of the Constitution and laws and defeated under another, id., at 685, unless the claim clearly appears to be immaterial, wholly insubstantial and frivolous, or otherwise so devoid of merit as not to involve a federal controversy, see, e. g., Oneida Indian Nation of N. Y. v. County of Oneida, 414 U. S. 661 , 666. Here, respondent wins under one construction of EPCRA and loses under another, and its claim is not frivolous or immaterial. It is unreasonable to read § 11046(c)which provides that "[t]he district court shall have jurisdiction in actions brought under subsection (a) ... to enforce [an EPCRA] requirement ... and to impose any civil penalty provided for violation of that requirement"-as making all the elements of the § 11046(a) cause of ac-
tion jurisdictional, rather than as merely specifying the remedial powers of the court. Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., 484 U. S. 49 , as well as cases deciding a statutory standing question before a constitutional standing question, distinguished. In no case has this Court called the existence of a cause of action "jurisdictional," and decided that question before resolving a dispute concerning the existence of an Article III case or controversy. Such a principle would turn every statutory question in an EPCRA citizen suit into a question of jurisdiction that this Court would have to consider-indeed, raise sua sponte-even if not raised below. Pp. 88-93.
(b) This Court declines to endorse the "doctrine of hypothetical jurisdiction," under which several Courts of Appeals have found it proper to proceed immediately to the merits question, despite jurisdictional objections, at least where (1) the merits question is more readily resolved, and (2) the prevailing party on the merits would be the same as the prevailing party were jurisdiction denied. That doctrine carries the courts beyond the bounds of authorized judicial action and thus offends fundamental separation-of-powers principles. In a long and venerable line of cases, this Court has held that, without proper jurisdiction, a court cannot proceed at all, but can only note the jurisdictional defect and dismiss the suit. See, e. g., Capron v. Van Noorden, 2 Cranch 126; Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U. S. 43 , 73. Bell v. Hood, supra; National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. National Assn. of Railroad Passengers, 414 U. S. 453 , 465, n. 13; Norton v. Mathews, 427 U. S. 524 , 531; Secretary of Navy v. Avrech, 418 U. S. 676 , 678 (per curiam); United States v. Augenblick, 393 U. S. 348 ; Philbrook v. Glodgett, 421 U. S. 707 , 721; and Chandler v. Judicial Council of Tenth Circuit, 398 U. S. 74 , 86-88, distinguished. For a court to pronounce upon a law's meaning or constitutionality when it has no jurisdiction to do so is, by very definition, an ultra vires act. Pp. 93-102.
90 F.3d 1237 , vacated and remanded.
It is firmly established in our cases that the absence of a valid (as opposed to arguable) cause of action does not implicate subject-matter jurisdiction, i. e., the courts' statutory or constitutional power to adjudicate the case. See generally 5A C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1350, p. 196, n. 8 and cases cited (2d ed. 1990). As we stated in Bell v. Hood, 327 U. S. 678 , 682 (1946), "[j]urisdiction ... is not defeated ... by the possibility that the averments might fail to state a cause of action on which petitioners could actually recover." Rather, the district court has jurisdiction if "the right of the petitioners to recover under their complaint will be sustained if the Constitution and laws of the United States are given one construction and will be defeated if they are given another," id., at 685, unless the claim "clearly appears to be immaterial and made solely for the purpose of obtaining jurisdiction or where such a claim is wholly insubstantial and frivolous." Id., at 682-683; see also Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, 506 U. S. 263 ,285 (1993); The Fair v. Kohler Die & Specialty Co., 228 U. S. 22, 25 (1913). Dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction because of the inadequacy of the federal claim is proper only when the claim is "so insubstantial, implausible, foreclosed by prior decisions of this Court, or otherwise completely devoid of merit as not to involve a federal controversy." Oneida Indian Nation of N. Y. v. County of Oneida, 414 U. S. 661 , 666 (1974); see also Romero v. International Terminal Operating Co., 358 U. S. 354 , 359 (1959). Here, respondent wins under one construction of EPCRA and loses under another, and JUSTICE STEVENS does not argue that respondent's claim is frivolous or immaterial-
It is unreasonable to read this as making all the elements of the cause of action under subsection (a) jurisdictional, rather than as merely specifying the remedial powers of the court, viz., to enforce the violated requirement and to impose civil penalties. "Jurisdiction," it has been observed, "is a word of many, too many, meanings," United States v. Vanness, 85 F.3d 661 , 663, n. 2 (CADC 1996), and it is commonplace for the term to be used as it evidently was here. See, e. g., 7 U. S. C. § 13a-1(d) ("In any action brought under this section, the Commission may seek and the court shall have jurisdiction to impose ... a civil penalty in the amount of not more than the higher of $100,000 or triple the monetary gain to the person for each violation"); 15 U. S. C. § 2622(d) ("In actions brought under this subsection, the district courts shall have jurisdiction to grant all appropriate relief,
It is also the case that the Gwaltney opinion does not display the slightest awareness that anything turned upon whether the existence of a cause of action for past violations was technically jurisdictional-as indeed nothing of substance did. The District Court had statutory jurisdiction over the suit in any event, since continuing violations were also alleged. See 484 U. S., at 64. It is true, as JUSTICE STEVENS points out, that the issue of Article III standing which is addressed at the end of the opinion should technically have been addressed at the outset if the statutory question was not jurisdictional. But that also did not really matter, since Article III standing was in any event found. The short of the matter is that the jurisdictional character of the elements of the cause of action in Gwaltney made no substantive difference (nor even any procedural difference that the Court seemed aware of), had been assumed by the parties, and was assumed without discussion by the Court. We have often said that drive-by jurisdictional rulings of this sort (if Gwaltney can even be called a ruling on the point rather than a dictum) have no precedential effect. See Lewis v. Casey, 518 U. S. 343 , 352, n. 2 (1996); Federal Election Comm'n v. NRA Political Victory Fund, 513 U. S. 88 , 97 (1994); United States v. L. A. Tucker Truck Lines, Inc., 344 U. S. 33 , 38 (1952). But even if it is authoritative on the point as to the distinctive statute there at issue, it is fanciful to think that Gwaltney revised our established jurisprudence that the failure of a cause of action does not automatically produce a failure of jurisdiction, or adopted the expansive principle that a statute saying "the district court shall have jurisdiction to remedy violations [in specified ways]"
JUSTICE STEVENS' concurrence devotes a large portion of its discussion to cases in which a statutory standing question was decided before a question of constitutional standing. See post, at 115-117. They also are irrelevant here, because it is not a statutory standing question that JUSTICE STEVENS would have us decide first. He wishes to resolve, not whether EPCRA authorizes this plaintiff to sue (it assuredly does), but whether the scope of the EPCRA right of action includes past violations. Such a question, we have held, goes to the merits and not to statutory standing. See Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. County of Kent, 510 U. S. 355 , 365 (1994) ("The question whether a federal statute creates a claim for relief is not jurisdictional"); Romero v. International Terminal Operating Co., supra, at 359; Montana-Dakota Util. Co. v. Northwestern Public Service Co., 341 U. S. 246 , 249 (1951).
whether a particular manner of delivery complied in time with the requirement to "submit" the form; and if the court agreed with the defendant on the point; the action would not be "brought under [§ 11046(a)]," and would be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction rather than decided on the merits. Moreover, those statutory arguments, since they are "jurisdictional," would have to be considered by this Court even though not raised earlier in the litigation-indeed, this Court would have to raise them sua sponte. See Mt. Healthy City Bd. of Ed. v. Doyle, 429 U. S. 274 , 278-279 (1977); Great Southern Fire Proof Hotel Co. v. Jones, 177 U. S. 449 , 453 (1900). Congress of course did not create such a strange scheme. In referring to actions "brought under" § 11046(a), § 11046(c) means suits contending that § 11046(a) contains a certain requirement. If JUSTICE STEVENS is correct that all cause-of-action questions may be regarded as jurisdictional questions, and thus capable of being decided where there is no genuine case or controversy, it is hard to see what is left of that limitation in Article III.
Capital Investments, Inc., 98 F.3d 1133 , 1139-1142 (CA9 1996), cert. denied sub nom. Shelton v. Barnes, 520 U. S. 1185 (1997); Smith v. Avino, 91 F.3d 105 , 108 (CAll 1996); Clow v. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 948 F. 2d 614, 616, n. 2 (CA9 1991); Cross-Sound Ferry Services, Inc. v. ICC, 934 F.2d 327 , 333 (CADC 1991); United States v. Parcel of Land, 928 F.2d 1 ,4 (CAl1991); Browning-Ferris Industries v. Muszynski, 899 F.2d 151 , 154-159 (CA2 1990). The Ninth Circuit has denominated this practice-which it characterizes as "assuming" jurisdiction for the purpose of deciding the merits-the "doctrine of hypothetical jurisdiction." See, e. g., United States v. Troescher, 99 F.3d 933 , 934, n. 1 (1996).1
the judicial power of the United States" and is "inflexible and without exception." Mansfield, C. & L. M. R. Co. v. Swan, 111 U. S. 379 , 382 (1884).
"'[E]very federal appellate court has a special obligation to 'satisfy itself not only of its own jurisdiction, but also that of the lower courts in a cause under review,' even though the parties are prepared to concede it. Mitchell v. Maurer, 293 U. S. 237 , 244 (1934). See Juidice v. Vail, 430 U. S. 327 , 331-332 (1977) (standing). 'And if the record discloses that the lower court was without jurisdiction this court will notice the defect, although the parties make no contention concerning it. [When the lower federal court] lack[s] jurisdiction, we have jurisdiction on appeal, not of the merits but merely for the purpose of correcting the error of the lower court in entertaining the suit.' United States v. Corrick, 298 U. S. 435, 440 (1936) (footnotes omitted).''' Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U. S. 43 , 73 (1997), quoting Bender v. Williamsport Area School Dist., 475 U. S. 534 , 541 (1986) (brackets in original).
ing question. Post, at 118-119, n. 8. "Bell," JUSTICE STEVENS asserts, "held that we have jurisdiction to decide [whether the plaintiff has stated a cause of action] even when it is unclear whether the plaintiff's injuries can be redressed." Post, at 118. The italicized phrase (the italics are his own) invites the reader to believe that Article III redressability was at issue. Not only is this not true, but the whole point of Bell was that it is not true. In Bell, which was decided before Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403 U. S. 388 (1971), the District Court had dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds because it believed that (what we would now call) a Bivens action would not lie. This Court held that the nonexistence of a cause of action was no proper basis for a jurisdictional dismissal. Thus, the uncertainty about "whether the plaintiff's injuries can be redressed" to which JUSTICE STEVENS refers is simply the uncertainty about whether a cause of action existed-which is precisely what Bell holds not to be an Article III "redressability" question. It would have been a different matter if the relief requested by the plaintiffs in Bell (money damages) would not have remedied their injury in fact; but it of course would. JUSTICE STEVENS used to understand the fundamental distinction between arguing no cause of action and arguing no Article III redressability, having written for the Court that the former argument is "not squarely directed at jurisdiction itself, but rather at the existence of a remedy for the alleged violation of ... federal rights," which issue is "'not of the jurisdictional sort which the Court raises on its own motion.''' Lake Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 440 U. S. 391 , 398 (1979) (STEVENS, J.), (quoting Mt. Healthy Bd. of Ed. v. Doyle, 429 U. S., at 279).
2JUSTICE STEVENS thinks it illogical that a merits question can be given priority over a statutory standing question (National Railroad Passenger Corp.) and a statutory standing question can be given priority over an Article III question (the cases discussed post, at 115-117), but a merits question cannot be given priority over an Article III question. See post, at 120, n. 12. It seems to us no more illogical than many other "broken circles" that appear in life and the law: that Executive agreements may displace state law, for example, see United States v. Belmont, 301 U. S. 324 , 330-331 (1937), and that unilateral Presidential action (renunciation) may displace Executive agreements, does not produce the "logical" conclusion that unilateral Presidential action may displace state law. The reasons for allowing merits questions to be decided before statutory standing questions do not support allowing merits questions to be decided before Article III questions. As National Railroad Passenger Corp. points out, the merits inquiry and the statutory standing inquiry often "overlap," 414 U. S., at 456. The question whether this plaintiff has a cause of action under the statute, and the question whether any plaintiff has a cause of action under the statute are closely connected-indeed, depending upon the asserted basis for lack of statutory standing, they are sometimes identical, so that it would be exceedingly artificial to draw a distinction between the two. The same cannot be said of the Article III requirement of remediable injury in fact, which (except with regard to entirely frivolous claims) has nothing to do with the text of the statute relied upon. Moreover, deciding whether any cause of action exists under a particular statute, rather than whether the particular plaintiff can sue, does not take the court into vast, uncharted realms of judicial opinion giving; whereas the proposition that the court can reach a merits question when there is no Article III jurisdiction opens the door to all sorts of "generalized grievances," Schlesinger v. Reservists Comm. to Stop the War, 418 U. S. 208 , 217 (1974), that the Constitution leaves for resolution through the political process.
question. The jurisdictional question in the case had been raised by the Court sua sponte after oral argument, and supplemental briefing had been ordered. Secretary of Navy v. Avrech, supra, at 677. Before the Court came to a decision, however, the merits issue in the case had been conclusively resolved in Parker v. Levy, 417 U. S. 733 (1974), a case argued the same day as Avrech. The Court was unwilling to decide the jurisdictional question without oral argument, 418 U. S., at 677, but acknowledged (with some understatement) that "even the most diligent and zealous advocate could find his ardor somewhat dampened in arguing a jurisdictional issue where the decision on the merits is ... foreordained," id., at 678. Accordingly, the Court disposed of the case on the basis of the intervening decision in Parker, in a minimalist two-page per curiam opinion. The first thing to be observed about Avrech is that the supposed jurisdictional issue was technically not that. The issue was whether a courtmartial judgment could be attacked collaterally by a suit for backpay. Although Avrech, like the earlier case of United States v. Augenblick, 393 U. S. 348 (1969), characterized this question as jurisdictional, we later held squarely that it was not. See Schlesinger v. Councilman, 420 U. S. 738 , 753 (1975). In any event, the peculiar circumstances of Avrech hardly permit it to be cited for the precedent-shattering general proposition that an "easy" merits question may be decided on the assumption of jurisdiction. To the contrary, the fact that the Court ordered briefing on the jurisdictional question sua sponte demonstrates its adherence to traditional and constitutionally dictated requirements. See Cross-Sound Ferry Services, Inc. v. ICC, 934 F. 2d, at 344345, and n. 10 (Thomas, J., concurring in part and concurring in denial of petition for review).
Other cases sometimes cited by the lower courts to support "hypothetical jurisdiction" are similarly distinguishable. United States v. Augenblick, as we have discussed, did not involve a jurisdictional issue. In Philbrook v. Glodgett, 421 U. S. 707 , 721 (1975), the jurisdictional question was whether,
While some of the above cases must be acknowledged to have diluted the absolute purity of the rule that Article III jurisdiction is always an antecedent question, none of them even approaches approval of a doctrine of "hypothetical jurisdiction" that enables a court to resolve contested questions of law when its jurisdiction is in doubt. Hypothetical jurisdiction produces nothing more than a hypothetical judgment-which comes to the same thing as an advisory opinion, disapproved by this Court from the beginning. Musk rat v. United States, 219 U. S. 346 , 362 (1911); Hayburn's Case, 2 Dall. 409 (1792). Much more than legal niceties are at stake here. The statutory and (especially) constitutional elements of jurisdiction are an essential ingredient of separation and equilibration of powers, restraining the courts from acting at certain times, and even restraining them from acting permanently regarding certain subjects. See United States v. Richardson, 418 U. S. 166 , 179 (1974); Schlesinger v. Reservists Comm. to Stop the War, 418 U. S. 208 , 227 (1974). For a court to pronounce upon the meaning or the constitutionality of a state or federal law when it has no ju-
to state-law claims against a new party, because we agreed with the District Court's discretionary declination of pendent jurisdiction. Id., at 715716. Thus, the case decided not a merits question before a jurisdictional question, but a discretionary jurisdictional question before a nondiscretionary jurisdictional question. Similarly in Ellis v. Dyson, 421 U. S. 426 , 436 (1975), the "authoritative ground of decision" upon which the District Court relied in lieu of determining whether there was a case or controversy was Younger abstention, which we have treated as jurisdictional. And finally, the issue pretermitted in Neese v. Southern R. Co., 350 U. S. 77 (1955) (per curiam), was not Article III jurisdiction at all, but the substantive question whether the Seventh Amendment permits an appellate court to review the district court's denial of a motion for new trial on the ground that the verdict was excessive. We declined to consider that question because we agreed with the District Court's decision to deny the motion on the facts in the record. The more numerous the look-alikebut-inapposite cases JUSTICE STEVENS cites, the more strikingly clear it becomes: His concurrence cannot identify a single opinion of ours deciding the merits before a disputed question of Article III jurisdiction.
Having reached the end of what seems like a long front walk, we finally arrive at the threshold jurisdictional question: whether respondent, the plaintiff below, has standing to sue. Article III, § 2, of the Constitution extends the "judicial Power" of the United States only to "Cases" and "Controversies." We have always taken this to mean cases and controversies of the sort traditionally amenable to, and resolved by, the judicial process. Muskrat v. United States, supra, at 356-357. Such a meaning is fairly implied by the text, since otherwise the purported restriction upon the judicial power would scarcely be a restriction at all. Every criminal investigation conducted by the Executive is a "case," and every policy issue resolved by congressional legislation involves a "controversy." These are not, however, the sort of cases and controversies that Article III, § 2, refers to, since "the Constitution's central mechanism of separation of powers depends largely upon common understanding of what activities are appropriate to legislatures, to executives, and to courts." Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U. S. 555 , 559-560 (1992). Standing to sue is part of the common understanding of what it takes to make a justiciable case. Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U. S. 149 , 155 (1990).4
supra, at 560. First and foremost, there must be alleged (and ultimately proved) an "injury in fact"-a harm suffered by the plaintiff that is "concrete" and "actual or imminent, not 'conjectural' or 'hypothetical.' " Whitmore v. Arkansas, supra, at 149, 155 (quoting Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U. S. 95 , 101-102 (1983)). Second, there must be causation-a fairly traceable connection between the plaintiff's injury and the complained-of conduct of the defendant. Simon v. Eastern Ky. Welfare Rights Organization, 426 U. S. 26 , 41-42 (1976). And third, there must be redressability-a likelihood that the requested relief will redress the alleged injury. Id., at 45-46; see also Warth v. Seldin, 422 U. S. 490 , 505 (1975). This triad of injury in fact, causation, and redressability 5 constitutes the core of Article Ill's case-or-
5 Contrary to JUSTICE STEVENS' belief that redressability "is a judicial creation of the past 25 years," post, at 124, the concept has been ingrained in our jurisprudence from the beginning. Although we have packaged the requirements of constitutional "case" or "controversy" somewhat differently in the past 25 years-an era rich in three-part tests-the point has always been the same: whether a plaintiff "personally would benefit in a tangible way from the court's intervention." Warth, 422 U. S., at 508. For example, in Marye v. Parsons, 114 U. S. 325 , 328-329 (1885), we held that a bill in equity should have been dismissed because it was a clear case of "damnum absque injuria." Although the complainant alleged a breach of contract by the State, the complainant "asks no relief as to that, for there is no remedy by suit to compel the State to pay its debts .... The bill as framed, therefore, calls for a declaration of an abstract character." Because courts do not "si[t] to determine questions of law in thesi," we remanded with directions to dismiss the bill. Id., at 328-330.
controversy requirement, and the party invoking federal jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing its existence. See FW/PBS, Inc. v. Dallas, 493 U. S. 215 , 231 (1990).
We turn now to the particulars of respondent's complaint to see how it measures up to Article Ill's requirements. This case is on appeal from a Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss on the pleadings, so we must presume that the general allegations in the complaint encompass the specific facts necessary to support those allegations. Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, 497 U. S. 871 , 889 (1990). The complaint contains claims "on behalf of both [respondent] itself and its members." 6 App.4. It describes respondent as an organization that seeks, uses, and acquires data reported under EPCRA. It says that respondent "reports to its members and the public about storage and releases of toxic chemicals into the environment, advocates changes in environmental regulations and statutes, prepares reports for its members and the public, seeks the reduction of toxic chemicals and further seeks to promote the effective enforcement of environmentallaws." Id., at 5. The complaint asserts that respondent's "right to know about [toxic-chemical] releases and its interests in protecting and improving the environment and the health of its members have been, are being, and will be adversely affected by [petitioner's] actions in failing to provide timely and required information under EPCRA." Ibid. The complaint also alleges that respondent's members, who live in or frequent the area near petitioner's facility, use the EPCRA-reported information "to learn about
The first item, the request for a declaratory judgment that petitioner violated EPCRA, can be disposed of summarily. There being no controversy over whether petitioner failed to file reports, or over whether such a failure constitutes a violation, the declaratory judgment is not only worthless to respondent, it is seemingly worthless to all the world. See Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp., 494 U. S. 472 , 479 (1990).
7 JUSTICE STEVENS claims that redress ability was found lacking in our prior cases because the relief required action by a party not before the Court. Post, at 125-126. Even if that were so, it would not prove that redressability is lacking only when relief depends on the actions of a third party. But in any event, JUSTICE STEVENS has overlooked decisions that destroy his premise. See Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U. S. 95 , 105 (1983); O'Shea v. Littleton, 414 U. S. 488 , 495-496 (1974). He also seems to suggest that redressability always exists when the defendant has directly injured the plaintiff. If that were so, the redressability requirement would be entirely superfluous, since the causation requirement asks whether the injury is "fairly ... trace[able] to the challenged action of the defendant, and not ... thEe] resul[t] [of] the independent action of some third party not before the court." Simon v. Eastern Ky. Welfare Rights Organization, 426 U. S. 26 , 41-42 (1976).
punishment will deter the risk of future harm. Post, at 127-128. If that were so, our holdings in Linda R. S. v. Richard D., 410 U. S. 614 (1973), and Simon v. Eastern Ky. Welfare Rights Organization, 426 U. S. 26 (1976), are inexplicable. Obviously, such a principle would make the redressability requirement vanish. By the mere bringing of his suit, every plaintiff demonstrates his belief that a favorable judgment will make him happier. But although a suitor may derive great comfort and joy from the fact that the United States Treasury is not cheated, that a wrongdoer gets his just deserts, or that the Nation's laws are faithfully enforced, that psychic satisfaction is not an acceptable Article III remedy because it does not redress a cognizable Article III injury. See, e. g., Allen v. Wright, 468 U. S. 737 , 754-755 (1984); Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., 454 U. S. 464 , 482483 (1982). Relief that does not remedy the injury suffered cannot bootstrap a plaintiff into federal court; that is the very essence of the redressability requirement.
Item (5), the "investigation and prosecution" costs "as authorized by Section 326(f)," would assuredly benefit respondent as opposed to the citizenry at large. Obviously, however, a plaintiff cannot achieve standing to litigate a substantive issue by bringing suit for the cost of bringing suit. The litigation must give the plaintiff some other benefit besides reimbursement of costs that are a byproduct of the litigation itself. An "interest in attorney's fees is ... insufficient to create an Article III case or controversy where none exists on the merits of the underlying claim." Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp., supra, at 480 (citing Diamond v. Charles, 476 U. S. 54 , 70-71 (1986)). Respondent asserts that the "investigation costs" it seeks were incurred prior to the litigation, in digging up the emissions and storage information that petitioner should have filed, and that respondent needed for its own purposes. See Brief for Respondent 37-38. The recovery of such expenses unrelated
The United States, as amicus curiae, argues that the injunctive relief does constitute remediation because "there is a presumption of [future] injury when the defendant has voluntarily ceased its illegal activity in response to litigation," even if that occurs before a complaint is filed. Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 27-28, and n. 11. This makes a sword out of a shield. The "presumption" the Government refers to has been applied to refute the assertion of mootness by a defendant who, when sued in a complaint that alleges present or threatened injury, ceases the complained-of activity. See, e. g., United States v. W T. Grant Co., 345 U. S. 629 , 632 (1953). It is an immense and unacceptable stretch to call the presumption into service as a substitute for the allegation of present or threatened injury upon which initial standing must be based. See Los Angeles v. Lyons, supra, at 109. To accept the Government's view would be to overrule our clear precedent requiring that the allegations of future injury be particular and concrete. O'Shea v. Littleton, 414 U. S. 488 , 496-497 (1974). "Past exposure to illegal conduct does not in itself show a present case or controversy regarding injunctive relief ... if unaccompanied by any continuing, present adverse effects." Id., at 495-496; see also Renne v. Geary, 501 U. S. 312 , 320 (1991) ("[T]he mootness exception for disputes capable of repetition yet evading review ... will not revive a dispute which became moot before the action commenced"). Because respondent alleges only past infractions of EPCRA, and not a continuing violation or the likelihood of a future violation, injunctive relief will not redress its injury.
could be resolved on the merits in favor of the same party," Norton v. Mathews, 427 U. S. 524 , 532 (1976).
This Court has previously made clear that courts may "reserv[e] difficult questions of ... jurisdiction when the case alternatively could be resolved on the merits in favor of the same party." Norton v. Mathews, 427 U. S. 524 , 532 (1976). That rule makes theoretical sense, for the difficulty of the jurisdictional question makes reasonable the court's jurisdictional assumption. And that rule makes enormous practical sense. Whom does it help to have appellate judges spend their time and energy puzzling over the correct answer to an intractable jurisdictional matter, when (assuming an easy answer on the substantive merits) the same party would win or lose regardless? More importantly, to insist upon a rigid "order of operations" in today's world of federal-court caseloads that have grown enormously over a generation means unnecessary delay and consequent added cost. See L. Mecham, Judicial Business of the United States Courts: 1996 Report of the Director 16, 18, 23; Report of the Proceedings of the Judicial Conference of the United States
This case presents two questions: (1) whether the Emergency Planning and Community Right- To- Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), 42 U. S. C. § 11001 et seq., confers federal jurisdiction over citizen suits for wholly past violations; and (2) if so, whether respondent has standing under Article III of the Constitution. The Court has elected to decide the constitutional question first and, in doing so, has created new constitutionallaw. Because it is always prudent to avoid passing unnecessarily on an undecided constitutional question, see Ashwander v. TV A, 297 U. S. 288 , 345-348 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring), the Court should answer the statutory question first. Moreover, because EPCRA, properly construed, does not confer jurisdiction over citizen suits for wholly past violations, the Court should leave the constitutional question for another day.
See also Block v. Community Nutrition Institute, 467 U. S. 340 , 353, n. 4 (1984) (citing National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. National Assn. of Railroad Passengers, 414 U. S. 453 , 456, 465, n. 13 (1974)). If we resolve the comparable statutory issue in the same way in this case, federal courts will have no jurisdiction to address the merits in future similar cases. Thus, this is not a case in which the choice between resolving the statutory question or the standing question first is a choice between a merits issue and a juris-
4405 U. S., at 753-755 (App. to opinion of Douglas, J., dissenting) (Extract from Oral Argument of the Solicitor General); Brief for Respondent in Sierra Club v. Morton, O. T. 1970, No. 70-34, p. 18 ("The irreducible minimum requirement of standing reflects the constitutional limitation of judicial power to 'Cases' and 'Controversies' -'whether the party invoking federal court jurisdiction has "a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy" ... and whether the dispute touches upon the "legal relations of parties having adverse legal interests." , Flast v. Cohen, 392 U. S. 83 , 101 [(1968)]"); see also Brief for County of Tulare as Amicus Curiae in Sierra Club v. Morton, O. T. 1970, No. 70-34, pp. 13-14 ("This Court long ago held that to have standing ... a party must show he has sustained or is immediately in danger of sustaining some direct injury ... and not merely that he suffers in some indefinite way in common with people generally. This is an outgrowth of Article III of the Constitution which limits the jurisdiction of federal courts to cases and controversies. U. S. Const., art. III, § 2" (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)).
Similarly, in Block v. Community Nutrition Institute, 467 U. S. 340 (1984), the Court was faced with a choice between a statutory jurisdictional issue and a question of Article III standing. The Court of Appeals had held that the respondents had standing under both the statute and the Constitution. 698 F.2d 1239 , 1244-1252 (CADC 1983). On writ of certiorari to this Court, the United States, as petitioner, argued both issues: that the respondents did not come within the "zone of interests" of the statute, and that they did not have standing under Article III of the Constitution.5 A unanimous Court bypassed the constitutional standing question in order to decide the statutory question. It therefore construed the statute, and concluded that respondents could not bring suit under the statute. The only mention of the constitutional question came in a footnote at the end of the opinion: "Since congressional preclusion of judicial review is in effect jurisdictional, we need not address the standing issue decided by the Court of Appeals in this case." Block, 467 U. S., at 353, n. 4 (citing National Railroad Passenger Corp., 414 U. S., at 456, 465, and n. 13).
See also Bennett v. Spear, 520 U. S. 154 , 164 (1997) (footnote omitted) (opinion of SCALIA, J.) (stating that "[t]he first question in the present case is whether the [Endangered Species Act's] citizen-suit provision ... negates the zone-of-interests test," and turning to the constitutional standing question only after determining that standing existed under the statute); Food and Commercial Workers v. Brown Group, Inc., 517 U. S. 544 , 548-550 (1996) (analyzing the statutory question before turning to the constitutional standing question); Cross-Sound Ferry Services, Inc. v. ICC, 934 F.2d 327 , 341 (CADC 1991) (Thomas, J., concurring in part and concurring in denial of petition for review) (courts exceed the scope of their power "only if the ground passed over is jurisdictional and the ground rested upon is non-jurisdictional, for courts properly rest on one jurisdictional ground instead of another"). Thus, our precedents clearly support the proposition that, given a choice between two jurisdictional questions-one statutory and the other constitutional-the Court has the power to answer the statutory question first.
of action." 6 Framed this way, it is also clear that we have the power to decide the statutory question first. As our holding in Bell v. Hood, 327 U. S. 678 , 681-685 (1946), demonstrates, just as a court always has jurisdiction to determine its own jurisdiction, United States v. Mine Workers, 330 U. S. 258 ,290 (1947), a federal court also has jurisdiction to decide whether a plaintiff who alleges that she has been injured by a violation of federal law has stated a cause of action.7 Indeed, Bell held that we have jurisdiction to decide this question even when it is unclear whether the plaintiff's injuries can be redressed. s Thus, Bell demonstrates that the Court
6 As Justice Cardozo stated, '" "cause of action" may mean one thing for one purpose and something different for another.''' Davis v. Passman, 442 U. S. 228 , 237 (1979) (quoting United States v. Memphis Cotton Oil Co., 288 U. S. 62 , 67-68 (1933)). Under one meaning of the term, it is clear that citizens have a "cause of action" to sue under the statute. Under that meaning, "cause of action is a question of whether a particular plaintiff is a member of the class of litigants that may, as a matter of law, appropriately invoke the power of the court." Davis, 442 U. S., at 240, and n. 18 (emphasis deleted); see also id., at 239 ("The concept of a 'cause of action' is employed specifically to determine who may judicially enforce the statutory rights or obligations" (emphasis added)). Since EPCRA expressly gives citizens the right to sue, 42 U. S. C. § 11046(a)(1), there is no question that citizens are "member[s] of the class of litigants that may, as a matter of law, appropriately invoke the power of the court," Davis, 442 U. S., at 240, and n. 18.
National Railroad Passenger Corp. also makes it clear that we have the power to decide this question before addressing other threshold issues. In that case, we were faced with the interrelated questions of "whether the Amtrak Act can be read to create a private right of action to enforce compliance with its provisions; whether a federal district court has jurisdiction under the terms of the Act to entertain such a suit [under 28 U. s. C. § 13371째]; and whether respondent has [statutory] standing to bring such a suit." 414 U. S., at 455-456. In choosing its method of analysis, the Court stated:
9 The Court incorrectly states that I "used to understand the fundamental distinction between arguing no cause of action and arguing no Article III redressability," ante, at 96. The Court gives me too much credit. I have never understood any fundamental difference between arguing: (1) plaintiff's complaint does not allege a cause of action because the law does "not provide a remedy" for the plaintiff's injury; and (2) plaintiff's injury is "not redressable." In Lake Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 440 U. S. 391 , 398 (1979), we stated that the absence of a remedy, i. e., the lack of redress ability, was not the sort of jurisdictional issue that the Court raises on its own motion. That was the law when that case was decided, and it would still be the law today if the Court had not supplemented the standing analysis set forth in Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186, 204 (1962), with its current fascination with "redressability." What has changed is not the admittedly imperfect state of my understanding, but rather the state of the Court's standing doctrine.
10 Section 1337 states, in relevant part: "[D]istrict courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action or proceeding arising under any Act of Congress regulating commerce or protecting trade and commerce against restraints and monopolies." 28 U. S. C. § 1337(a); see also Potomac Passengers Assn. v. Chesapeake & Ohio R. Co., 475 F.2d 325 , 339 (CADC 1973), rev'd on other grounds, National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. National Assn. of Railroad Passengers, 414 U. S. 453 (1974).
12 In insisting that the Article III standing question must be answered first, the Court finds itself in a logical dilemma. For if "A" (whether a cause of action exists) can be decided before "B" (whether there is statutory standing), id., at 456, 465, n. 13; and if "B" (whether there is statutory standing) can be decided before "C" (whether there is Article III standing), e. g., Block v. Community Nutrition Institute, 467 U. S. 340 , 353, n. 4 (1984); then logic dictates that "A" (whether a cause of action exists) can be decided before "C" (whether there is Article III standing)-precisely the issue of this case.
to the same thing as an advisory opinion, disapproved by this Court from the beginning." Ante, at 101; see also Muskrat v. United States, 219 U. S. 346 , 362 (1911) (stressing that Article III limits federal courts to "deciding cases or controversies arising between opposing parties").15
15 The Court boldly distinguishes away no fewer than five of our precedents. In each of these five cases, the Court avoided deciding a jurisdictional issue by assuming that jurisdiction existed for the purpose of that case. In Norton v. Mathews, 427 U. S. 524 , 532 (1976), for example, we stated:
"It ... is evident that, whichever disposition we undertake, the effect is the same. It follows that there is no need to decide the theoretical question of jurisdiction in this case. In the past, we similarly have reserved difficult questions of our jurisdiction when the case alternatively could be resolved on the merits in favor of the same party. See Secretary of the Navy v. Avrech, 418 U. S. 676 (1974). The Court has done this even when the original reason for granting certiorari was to resolve the jurisdictional issue. See United States v. Augenblick, 393 U. S. 348 ,349352 (1969) .... Making the assumption, then, without deciding, that our jurisdiction in this cause is established, we affirm the judgment in favor of the Secretary .... "
See also Philbrook v. Glodgett, 421 U. S. 707 , 720-722 (1975) (opinion of REHNQUIST, J.) (declining to reach "subtle and complex" jurisdictional issue and assuming that jurisdiction existed); Secretary of Navy v. Avrech, 418 U. S. 676 , 677-678 (1974) (per curiam) ("[a]ssuming, arguendo, that the District Court had jurisdiction"; leaving "to a future case the resolution of the jurisdictional issue"); Chandler v. Judicial Council of Tenth Circuit, 398 U. S. 74 ,89 (1970) (''Whether the Council's action was administrative action not reviewable in this Court, or whether it is reviewable here, plainly petitioner has not made a case for the extraordinary relief of mandamus or prohibition"); United States v. Augenblick, 393 U. S. 348 , 351-352 (1969) (assuming, arguendo, that jurisdiction existed).
Moreover, in addition to the five cases that the Court distinguishes, there are other cases that support the notion that a court can assume jurisdiction. See, e. g., Moor v. County of Alameda, 411 U. S. 693 , 715 (1973) (''Whether there exists judicial power to hear the state law claims against the County is, in short, a subtle and complex question with farreaching implications. But we do not consider it appropriate to resolve this difficult issue in the present case, for we have concluded that even assuming, arguendo, the existence of power to hear the claim, the District Court [did not err]"); Neese v. Southern R. Co., 350 U. S. 77 (1955) (per
curiam) ("We reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals without reaching the constitutional challenge to that court's jurisdiction .... Even assuming such appellate power to exist ... , [the Court of Appeals erred]"); see also Ellis v. Dyson, 421 U. S. 426 , 436 (1975) (REHNQUIST, J., concurring) ("While it would have been more in keeping with conventional adjudication had [the District Court] first inquired as to the existence of a case or controversy, ... I cannot fault the District Court for disposing of the case on what it quite properly regarded at that time as an authoritative ground of decision. Indeed, this Court has on occasion followed essentially the same practice").
There is an important reason for addressing the statutory question first: to avoid unnecessarily passing on an undecided constitutional question. New York Transit Authority v. Beazer, 440 U. S. 568 , 582-583 (1979); Ashwander v. TV A, 297 U. S. 288 , 345-348 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring).17 Whether correct or incorrect, the Court's constitutional holding represents a significant extension of prior case law.
The Court's conclusion that respondent does not have standing comes from a mechanistic application of the "redressability" aspect of our standing doctrine. "Redressability," of course, does not appear anywhere in the text of the Constitution. Instead, it is a judicial creation of the past 25 years, see Simon v. Eastern Ky. Welfare Rights Organization, 426 U. S. 26 , 38, 41-46 (1976); Linda R. S. v. Richard D., 410 U. S. 614 , 617-618 (1973)-a judicial interpretation of the "Case" requirement of Article III, Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U. S. 555 , 559-561 (1992).18
In every previous case in which the Court has denied standing because of a lack of redressability, the plaintiff was challenging some governmental action or inaction. Leeke v. Timmerman, 454 U. S. 83 , 85-87 (1981) (per curiam) (suit against Director of the Department of Corrections and another prison official); Simon, 426 U. S., at 28 (suit against the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue); Warth v. Seldin, 422 U. S. 490 , 493 (1975) (suit against the town of Penfield and members of Penfield's Zoning, Planning, and Town Boards); Linda R. S., 410 U. S., at 615-616, 619 (suit against prosecutor); see also Renne v. Geary, 501 U. S. 312 , 314 (1991) (suit against the city and County of San Francisco, its board of supervisors, and other localofficials).19 None of these cases involved an attempt by one private party to impose a statutory sanction on another private party.20
20 This distinction is significant, as our standing doctrine is rooted in separation-of-powers concerns. E. g., Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U. S. 555 , 573-578 (1992); Allen v. Wright, 468 U. S. 737 , 750 (1984); see also infra, at 129-130.
"[W]e must be sensitive to the articulation of new rights of action that do not have clear analogs in our common-law tradition .... Congress has the power to define injuries and articulate chains of causation that will give rise to a case or controversy where none existed before .... " Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U. S., at 580 (KENNEDY, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment); see also Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U. S. 363 , 373-374 (1982); Warth v. Seldin, 422 U. S. 490 , 500 (1975).
Moreover, under the Court's own reasoning, respondent would have had standing if Congress had authorized some payment to respondent. Ante, at 106 ("[T]he civil penalties authorized by the statute ... might be viewed as a sort of compensation or redress to respondent if they were payable to respondent"). This conclusion is unexceptional given that respondent has a more particularized interest than a plaintiff in a qui tam suit, an action that is deeply rooted in our history. United States ex rel. Marcus v. Hess, 317 U. S. 537 , 541, n. 4 (1943) (" 'Statutes providing for actions by a common informer, who himself has no interest whatever in the controversy other than that given by statute, have been in
existence for hundreds of years in England, and in this country ever since the foundation of our Government'" (quoting Marvin v. Trout, 199 U. S. 212 , 225 (1905)); Adams v. Woods, 2 Cranch 336, 341 (1805) (opinion of Marshall, C. J.) ("Almost every fine or forfeiture under a penal statute, may be recovered by an action of debt [qui tam] as well as by information [by a public prosecutor]"); 3 W. Blackstone, Commentaries 160 (1768); Caminker, The Constitutionality of Qui Tam Actions, 99 Yale L. J. 341, 342, and n. 3 (1989) (describing qui tam actions authorized by First Congress); see also Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U. S., at 572-573.
Unfortunately, this language is ambiguous. It could mean, as the Sixth Circuit has held, that a citizen only has the right to sue for a "failure ... to complete and submit" the required forms. Under this reading, once the owner or operator has filed the forms, the district court no longer has jurisdiction. Atlantic States Legal Foundation v. United Musical, 61 F.3d 473 , 475 (1995). Alternatively, it could be, as the Seventh Circuit held, that the phrases "under section 11022(a)" and "under section 11023(a)" incorporate the requirements of those sections, including the requirement that the reports be filed by particular dates. 90 F.3d 1237 , 1243 (1996).
remedy issue. Cf. United States v. W T. Grant Co., 345 U. S. 629 , 633 (1953) ("Here the defendants told the court that the interlocks no longer existed and disclaimed any intention to revive them. Such a profession does not suffice to make a case moot although it is one of the factors to be considered in determining the appropriateness of granting an injunction against the now-discontinued acts").
Finally, even if these two provisions did not resolve the issue, our settled policy of adopting acceptable constructions of statutory provisions in order to avoid the unnecessary adjudication of constitutional questions-here, the unresolved standing question-strongly supports a construction of the statute that does not authorize suits for wholly past violations. As we stated in Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Constr. Trades Council, 485 U. S. 568 , 575 (1988): "This cardinal principle has its roots in Chief Justice Marshall's opinion for the Court in Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy, 2 Cranch 64, 118 (1804), and has for so long been applied by this Court that it is beyond debate." See also NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 440 U. S. 490 ,
500-501 (1979); Machinists v. Street, 367 U. S. 740 , 749-750 (1961); Crowell v. Benson, 285 U. S. 22 , 62 (1932); Lucas v. Alexander, 279 U. S. 573 , 577 (1929); Panama R. Co. v. Johnson, 264 U. S. 375 , 390 (1924); United States ex rel. Attorney General v. Delaware & Hudson Co., 213 U. S. 366 ,407-408 (1909); Parsons v. Bedford, 3 Pet. 433, 448-449 (1830) (opinion of Story, J.).
JUSTICE GINSBURG, concurring in the judgment. Congress has authorized citizen suits to enforce the Emergency Planning and Community Right- To- Know Act of 1986, 42 U. S. C. § 11001 et seq. Does that authorization, as Congress designed it, permit citizen suits for wholly past violations? For the reasons stated by JUSTICE STEVENS in Part III of his opinion, I agree that the answer is "No." I would follow the path this Court marked in Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., 484 U. S. 49 , 60-61 (1987), and resist expounding or offering advice on the constitutionality of what Congress might have done, but did not do.