Opinion ID: 110998
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: We first address two preliminary issues.

Text: MGH suggests that we lack jurisdiction to decide this case because the state-court decision rests on an adequate and independent state ground. The Supreme Judicial Court's opinion, however, stated unequivocally that state contract law provided no basis for ordering Revere to pay MGH for the hospital services rendered to Kivlin, 385 Mass., at 774, 434 N. E. 2d, at 186, and that MGH had not invoked the Commonwealth's Constitution in support of its claim, id., at 776, n. 6, 434 N. E. 2d, at 188, n. 6. In a section of its opinion entitled Eighth Amendment, the court premised Revere's liability squarely on the Federal Constitution. [4] Because the court's decision was based on an interpretation of federal law, we have jurisdiction notwithstanding the fact that the same decision, had it rested on state law, would be unreviewable here. See Oregon v. Hass, 420 U. S. 714, 719, and n. 4 (1975).
The parties submit various arguments concerning MGH's standing to raise its constitutional claim in this Court. MGH, however, clearly has standing in the Article III sense: it performed services for which it has not been paid, and through this action it seeks to redress its economic loss directly. Moreover, prudential reasons for refusing to permit a litigant to assert the constitutional rights of a third party are much weaker here than they were in Craig v. Boren, 429 U. S. 190, 193-194 (1976), where the Court permitted a seller of beer to challenge a statute prohibiting the sale of beer to males, but not to females, between the ages of 18 and 21. In this case, as in Craig, the plaintiff's assertion of jus tertii was not contested in the lower court, see 385 Mass., at 776-777, n. 7, 434 N. E. 2d, at 188, n. 7, and that court entertained the constitutional claim on its merits. Unlike Craig, this case arose in state court and the plaintiff, MGH, prevailed. The Supreme Judicial Court, of course, is not bound by the prudential limitations on jus tertii that apply to federal courts. The consequence of holding that MGH may not assert the rights of a third party (Kivlin) in this Court, therefore, would be to dismiss the writ of certiorari, leaving intact the state court's judgment in favor of MGH, the purportedly improper representative of the third party's constitutional rights. See Doremus v. Board of Education, 342 U. S. 429, 434-435 (1952). In these circumstances, invoking prudential limitations on MGH's assertion of jus tertii would serve no functional purpose. Craig v. Boren, 429 U. S., at 194. [5]