Opinion ID: 848681
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The New Judge-Made Standing Limitation

Text: Obviously, this Court is entitled to constrain its own power and limit standing as it has done in this case. But in doing so, it creates a self-inflicted wound. See Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 500, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). No constitution requires it. People v. Goldston, 470 Mich. 523, 682 N.W.2d 479 (2004). It is an entirely judge-made limitation, a standing requirement fabricated by judges where none existed before. And, because it subverts the popular will, it injures more than the judicial branch. It injures the people. The Court is ill-advised to curb its authority under the guise of respect for another branch of government. Its decision today is an unwarranted contraction of the right of the people to use the judicial and the legislative power to protect their interest in preserving the environment. It is not, as the majority asserts, a prudent check on an attempted expansion of legislative power. Ante at 807. MEPA does not violate constitutional separation of powers principles despite the fact that it lacks a particularized injury requirement. These principles require that the judiciary respect the Legislature's decision and fulfill its role to adjudicate disputes as a co-equal branch of the state's government. The majority advances a parade of horribles [16] that it fears would emerge if MEPA's standing provision were not supplemented by the Lujan standing requirements. [17] When examined closely, the horribles tend to shrink. Under MEPA, a plaintiff must establish prima facie environmental harm sufficient to support a claim. See MCL 324.1703(1) and Nemeth v. Abonmarche Dev., Inc., 457 Mich. 16, 576 N.W.2d 641 (1998); MCR 2.116(C)(8), (10). Moreover, existing court rules deter frivolous suits. See MCR 2.114 and MRPC 3.1 and 3.3. It is improper to hold the plaintiffs in this case to the Lujan judicial test for standing. Given that the express will of the people is to the contrary, plaintiffs now and in the future should not have to shoulder the Lujan standing burden in MEPA cases.