Opinion ID: 407612
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Law of Standing

Text: 16 Over the last decade, the Supreme Court has modified the legal principles embraced by the standing doctrine. See Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 153, 90 S.Ct. 827, 829, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970). A plaintiff invoking the power of the federal courts must allege a discrete and palpable injury, Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 501, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2206, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975), and show that the interests the plaintiff seeks to protect arguably fall within the zone of interests Congress meant to protect by enacting the statute, Camp, 397 U.S. at 156, 90 S.Ct. at 831. Respectively, these requirements represent the constitutional and prudential dimensions to the doctrine of standing. 5 17 The constitutional limitation derives from Article III, which requires an actual case or controversy between litigants before the power of the federal judiciary may be invoked to resolve a dispute. Id. at 151, 90 S.Ct. at 829. Concisely stated, a plaintiff who has 'alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy' as to warrant his invocation of federal-court jurisdiction, and to justify exercise of the court's remedial powers on his behalf, Warth, 422 U.S. at 498, 95 S.Ct. at 2205, quoting Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 201, 82 S.Ct. 691, 701, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962) (emphasis in original), has alleged an injury satisfying the constitutional dimension of the standing doctrine. Allegations in the complaint of (1) a bona fide injury which, however small, negates all implication that the plaintiff filed the lawsuit from intellectual or academic curiosity, United States v. SCRAP, 412 U.S. 669, 687-88, 93 S.Ct. 2405, 2415-16, 37 L.Ed.2d 254 (1973); Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 739, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1368, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972), and (2) a fairly traceable causal connection between the plaintiff's alleged injuries and the defendant's illegal conduct, Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, 438 U.S. 59, 72, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 2630, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978), establish that the plaintiff has suffered injury at the hands of the defendant and confirm that he holds the requisite personal stake to prosecute the lawsuit. Otherwise judicial intervention could be a fruitless, gratuitous endeavor. 18 In addition to alleging an actual case or controversy, plaintiffs must have interests arguably falling within the zone of interests Congress meant to protect by passing the statute. SCRAP, 412 U.S. at 686, 93 S.Ct. at 2415. The zone of interests limitation is one of several non-constitutional, judicially-imposed, prudential restrictions on the exercise of federal judicial power. See, e.g., Schlesinger v. Reservists to Stop the War, 418 U.S. 208, 222, 94 S.Ct. 2925, 2932, 41 L.Ed.2d 706 (1974); United States v. Raines, 362 U.S. 17, 22-23, 80 S.Ct. 519, 523-524, 4 L.Ed.2d 524 (1960). The limitation derives from the conviction that it is imprudent in some circumstances for the courts to exercise power, even though a plaintiff established an actual case or controversy in his complaint. The restriction is founded upon a concern for the proper-and properly limited-role of the courts in a democratic society. Warth, 422 U.S. at 498, 95 S.Ct. at 2205. However, despite the self-imposed nature of the limitation, its application is not discretionary with the district court. Peoples Gas, Light & Coke Co. v. United States Postal Service, 658 F.2d 1182 (7th Cir. 1981). Congress may abolish the limitation entirely, Camp, 397 U.S. at 154, 90 S.Ct. at 830, or suspend its application to a particular statute, Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, --- U.S. ---- at ----, 102 S.Ct. 1114 at 1121, 71 L.Ed.2d 214 (1982), but the courts may not override the limitation simply by deciding to observe it. 19 Finally, a challenge to standing does not justify an inquiry into the strength of a complaint. Questions of standing deal exclusively with whether the plaintiff alleged facts satisfying the constitutional and prudential limitations of the doctrine. The ability of the complaint on its merits to survive a summary judgment motion or support an award in law or equity after a full trial is irrelevant. Camp, 397 U.S. at 153, 90 S.Ct. at 829; Barlow v. Collins, 397 U.S. 159, 168, 90 S.Ct. 832, 838, 25 L.Ed.2d 192 (1970) (Brennan, J., concurring in the result and dissenting). The proper focus is upon the plaintiff and whether his interest in the controversy is significant enough to justify the exercise of federal judicial power on his behalf. Simon, 426 U.S. at 38, 96 S.Ct. at 1924; Warth, 422 U.S. at 498-99, 95 S.Ct. at 2204-05; Sierra Club, 405 U.S. at 734-35, 92 S.Ct. at 1365-66. Consequently, the district court considering a motion to dismiss for lack of standing accepts all material allegations in the complaint as true and liberally construes the document in favor of the plaintiff. Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 421-22, 89 S.Ct. 1843, 1848-49, 23 L.Ed.2d 404 (1969).