Court Opinion

ID: 9458616
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:56:55.644463+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:49.852155
License: Public Domain

ADAMS, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The pivotal issue in this case, as I view it, is whether a citizen-taxpayer has the standing to obtain an injunction requiring the defendants to render an accounting of funds received and expended by the CIA.
Although there is considerable force to the position articulated by the majority, a review of the historical foundations for, and the development of, the standing doctrine leads ineluctably to the conclusion that the plaintiff here may not continue his action.1 Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from the result reached by the majority.
The question of standing has confounded courts and commentators for many years. Although the Supreme Court has considered the problem in several different contexts, and many learned and provocative articles have discussed the Supreme Court decisions, the law is still quite murky. This is particularly so here, since this case is essentially one of first impression.
By now it is clear that a person may not invoke the judicial process to secure the relief he demands unless he has standing to do so. But what combination of circumstances operate to confer standing on one plaintiff and not another? The answer to that question does not admit to easy analysis.
I. STANDING AND CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS
The first point of reference in determining the parameters of standing is Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution, which provides, in part:
“The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; — to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; — to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; — to Controversies to which the United States *858shall be a party; — to Controversies between two or more States; — between a State and Citizens of another State; —between Citizens of different States, —between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.”
A careful reading of Article III, Section 2 reveals that the existence of a case or controversy is mandatory before a federal court has jurisdiction, but the concept of standing is not mentioned at all. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that standing is a jurisdictional doctrine with a basis in Article III.2 To determine whether a standing requirement is subsumed in the language of Article III, it is helpful to examine the state of the law at the time the Constitution was ratified.
Professor Raoul Berger has analyzed the English and American law extant in 1787, when the Constitution was adopted, as well as the remarks of the various draftsmen and proponents of the Constitution. Based on such a review, he concluded that courts were incorrect when they relied on the practice in 1787 to read standing into the case or controversy limitation because English practice in the Eighteenth century encouraged suits by “strangers to attack unauthorized action.” Berger, Standing to Sue in Public Action: Is it a Constitutional Requirement? 78 Yale L.S. 816, 827 (1969) (footnotes omitted).
From his examination of the views of the Framers, Berger determined that they assumed that the traditional English remedies would be available within the language of Article III to “curb [Congressional] excesses, particularly in light of their desire to leave all channels open for attacks on congressional self-aggrandizement.” Id., at 829-830 (footnotes omitted). Nevertheless, Professor Berger was frank to admit that the evidence supporting his view is “scanty” and that there may well be policy considerations which justify the standing doctrine.
Although the words “cases” and “controversies” and the phrase “of a judicial nature” (to use Madison’s characterization) delimit the jurisdiction of the federal courts, they do not define nor are they synonymous with standing. In Tileston v. Ullman, 318 U.S. 44, 46, 63 S.Ct. 493, 494, 87 L.Ed 603 (1943), the Supreme Court stated that it would not determine “whether the record shows the existence of a genuine case or controversy” because “the appeal must be dismissed on the ground that appellant has no standing to litigate the constitutional question.” And in Willing v. Chicago Auditorium Ass’n, 277 U.S. 274, 289, 48 S.Ct. 507, 509, 72 L.Ed. 880 (1928), the Supreme Court concluded that despite the plaintiff’s standing, “still the proceeding is not a case or controversy within the meaning of Article 3 * *."3 Indeed, the Supreme Court has explained that “[a]part from the jurisdictional requirement, [the] Court has developed a complementary rule of self-restraint for its own governance * * * ”, Barrows v. Jackson, 346 U.S. 249, 255, 73 S.Ct. 1031, 1034, 97 L.Ed. 1586 (1953), and that the standing requirements were “not principles ordained by the Constitution, but rather rules of practice * * * ”, United States v. Raines, 362 U.S. 17, 80 S.Ct. 519, 4 L.Ed.2d 524 (1960).
II. SUPREME COURT CASES
Accordingly, to determine accurately the boundaries of the doctrine of standing, reference must be made, not only to the test of the Constitution, but to the Supreme Court decisions which have discussed the issue.
*8591. Frothingham v. Mellon
The first case in which the standing requirement was explored in any depth was Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 43 S.Ct. 597, 67 L.Ed. 1078 (1923). A taxpayer had sued to enjoin expenditures under the Maternity Act, alleging that “the effect of the appropriations complained of will be to increase the burden of future taxation and thereby take her property without due process of law.” 262 U.S. at 486, 43 S.Ct. at 600. The Supreme Court affirmed lower court dismissals of the action, stating:
“The administration of any statute, likely to produce additional taxation to be imposed upon a vast number of taxpayers, the extent of whose several liability is indefinite and constantly changing, is essentially a matter of public and not of individual concern. If one taxpayer may champion and' litigate such a cause, then every other taxpayer may do the same, not only in respect of the statute here under review, but also in respect of every other appropriation act and statute whose administration requires the outlay of public money, and whose validity may be questioned. The bare suggestion of such a result, with its attendant inconveniences, goes far to sustain the conclusion which we have reached, that a suit of this character cannot be maintained.” Id., at 487, 43 S.Ct. at 601.
After elucidating these policy considerations and the scope of the power of the judiciary to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, the Supreme Court set forth the test of standing:
“The party who invokes the power [to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional] must be able to show not only that the statute is invalid, but that he has sustained or is immediately in danger of sustaining some direct injury as a result of its enforcement, and not merely that he suffers in some indefinite way in common with people generally.” Id., at 488, 43 S.Ct. at 601.
2. Significant Decisions Relating to Standing Subsequent to Frothingham
In Ex parte Levitt, 302 U.S. 633, 58 S.Ct. 1, 82 L.Ed. 493 (1937), the Supreme Court was faced.with the issue of the standing of a citizen to challenge the constitutionality of the appointment and confirmation of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. In denying a motion for leave to file a petition for an order requiring the Justice to show cause why he should be permitted to serve, the Supreme Court stated:
“The motion papers disclose no interest upon the part of the petitioner other than that of a citizen and a member of the bar of this Court. That is insufficient. It is an established principle that to entitle a private individual to invoke the judicial power to determine the validity of executive or legislative action he must show that he has sustained, or is immediately in danger of sustaining, a direct injury as a result of that action and it is not sufficient that he has merely a general interest common to all members of the public. * * * ” Id. at 634, 58 S.Ct. at 1.4
The next significant case is Tileston v. Ullman, 318 U.S. 44, 63 S.Ct. 493, 87 L.Ed. 603 (1943). There, a physician sued in state court for a declaration that state statutes prohibiting the use of drugs or instruments to prevent conception and the rendering of assistance or counsel in their use are unconstitutional. The state court held the statutes were constitutional, and the Supreme Court, in a per curiam opinion, dismissed the appeal because of the appellant’s lack of standing. The Court noted that Dr. Tile-ston was not asserting his own Constitu*860tional rights, but those of his patients, who were not parties to the action.5
In Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Comm. v. McGrath, 341 U.S. 123, 71 S.Ct. 624, 95 L.Ed. 817 (1951), three organizations that had been branded as communist by the Attorney General sued for declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging that they had suffered both pecuniary damage and a chilling effect on their First Amendment rights as a result of the defamation. In considering whether the lower courts had properly dismissed the actions, the Supreme Court, speaking through Mr. Justice Burton, held:
“Finally, the standing of the petitioners to bring these suits is clear. The touchstone to justiciability is injury to a legally protected right and the right of a bona fide charitable organization to carry on its work, free from defamatory statements of the kind discussed, is such a right.” Id. at 140-141, 71 S.Ct. at 632 (footnotes omitted).
Taxpayers in Doremus v. Board of Education, 342 U.S. 429, 72 S.Ct. 394, 96 L.Ed. 475 (1952), sought a declaration in a state court that a statute providing for the reading of the Bible in the New Jersey public schools was unconstitutional. Although the case was clouded by elements of mootness (one of the plaintiffs was no longer in school), it turned squarely on the issue of standing, which was cast by the Supreme Court in terms of “case or controversy.”6 As to the facets of the case surviving the mootness question, the Court noted that “[n]o information is given as to what kind of taxes are paid by appellants and there is no averment that the Bible reading increases any tax they do pay or that as taxpayers they are, will, or possibly can be out of pocket because of it.” 342 U.S. at 433, 72 S.Ct. at 397. The Supreme Court’s holding, dismissing the appeal, relied, at least in terms of the language employed, on the fact that no money was at stake. Id., at 434-435, 72 S.Ct. 394.
One of the questions presented to the Supreme Court in Chicago v. Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co., 357 U.S. 77, 78 S.Ct. 1063, 2 L.Ed.2d 1174 (1958), was whether an intervenor had standing to appeal a judgment of a court of appeals. There, various railroads servicing Chicago sought to employ a new motor carrier to transfer passengers between stations. The new carrier refused to apply for a certificate required by a city ordinance, and when threatened with arrest, sued in federal court to invalidate the ordinance. The old carrier, Parmelee Transportation Co., was granted permission to intervene. Although the district court dismissed the complaint, the court of appeals reversed, and both the city and the old carrier appealed. In considering whether Parmelee had standing to secure review of the judgment, the Supreme Court stated: “It is enough, for purposes of standing, that we have an actual controversy before us in which Parmelee has a direct and substantial personal interest in the outcome.” Id. at 83, 78 S.Ct. at 1067. See also, Norman’s on the Waterfront, Inc. v. Wheatley, 444 F.2d 1011, 1012-1014 (3d Cir. 1971).
Another aspect of standing was addressed by the Supreme Court in NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449, 78 S.Ct. 1163, 2 L.Ed.2d 1488 (1958). There, the state had sued the NAACP for violation of its foreign corporation registration statute, and moved for discovery of the NAACP’s membership list. Although the defendant was willing to apply for *861registration, it would not disclose its general membership. In an appeal from a contempt citation, the Court held that the Association had standing to assert the Constitutional rights of its members. The Court explained:
“To limit the breadth of issues which must be dealt with in particular litigation, this Court has generally insisted that parties rely only on constitutional rights which are personal to themselves. * * * This rule is related to the broader doctrine that constitutional adjudication should, where possible, be avoided. * * * The principle is not disrespected where constitutional rights of persons who are not immediately before the Court could not be effectively vindicated except through an appropriate representative before the Court. * * *
“ * * * Petitioner is the appropriate party to assert these rights, because it and its members are in every practical sense identical.” Id. at 459, 78 S.Ct. at 1170 (citations omitted).
Thus, the NAACP’s standing was predicated on the factual peculiarity of the case: to require the members to assert their rights not to have their names divulged would have revealed their names.7 It is also significant that the NAACP was already in court as a defendant when it raised the issue.
McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 81 S.Ct. 1101, 6 L.Ed.2d 393 (1960), presented two standing issues to the Supreme Court for resolution:’ (1) whether employees of a store who had been fined for violations of Sunday sales laws had standing to raise “free exercise” constitutional questions; and (2) whether the same persons could assert “establishment clause” rights as a defense to their prosecutions. With regard to the “free exercise question,” the Court noted that appellants alleged only personal economic injury, not infringement of their religious freedoms, and held that they therefore had no standing to raise the issue of religious freedom.8 As to the “establishment clause” issue, the Court stated:
“Appellants here concededly have suffered direct economic injury, allegedly due to the imposition on them of the tenets of the Christian religion. We find that, in these circumstances, these appellants have standing to complain that the statutes are laws respecting an establishment of religion.” Id. at 430-431, 81 S.Ct. at 1108 (footnote omitted).
The Court distinguished Doremus, supra, on the ground that the complainants there failed to show direct and particular economic detriment. As in NAACP v. Alabama, supra, the defendants in McGowan were already in court, and had not sued as plaintiffs to raise the underlying substantive constitutional issue.9
3. Baker v. Carr (Formulation of the test)
*862Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962), presented still another facet of the standing problem. There, qualified voters from certain Tennessee counties brought an individual and class action to invalidate the apportionment of the state general assembly. The Supreme Court first formulated the question:
“Have the appellants alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues upon which the court so largely depends for illumination of difficult constitutional questions?” Id. at 204, 82 S.Ct. at 703.
In answering the question affirmatively, the Supreme Court noted that Colegrove v. Green, 328 U.S. 549, 66 S.Ct. 1198, 90 L.Ed. 1432 (1946), “squarely held that voters who allege facts showing disadvantage to themselves have standing to sue.” 369 U.S. at 206, 82 S.Ct. at 704.10 The injury asserted by the plaintiffs in Baker v. Carr was that the apportionment scheme then in effect “disfavors the voters in the counties in which they reside, placing them in a position of constitutionally unjustifiable inequality visa-vis voters in irrationally favored counties.” Id. at 207-208, 82 S.Ct. at 705. The Court continued:
“ ‘If such impairment does produce a legally cognizable injury, they are among those who have sustained it. They are asserting a plain, direct and adequate interest in maintaining the effectiveness of their votes,’ Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433 at 438, 59 S.Ct. 972, 83 L.Ed. 1385, not merely a claim of ‘the right, possessed by every citizen, to require that the Government be administered according to law. * * *’ Fairchild v. Hughes, 258 U.S. 126, 129, 42 S.Ct. 274, 66 L.Ed. 499 * * * ” Id. at 208, 82 S.Ct. at 705.11
Thus, the key to the decision in Baker v. Carr was the injury suffered by a voter whose vote was diluted by the unequal apportionment of election districts.12
The Court was able to reach the merits of the equal protection claim, over the objection that to do so would be to decide a political question, because plaintiffs are entitled to relief from discrimination despite the fact that the discrimination relates to political rights. Id. at 209, 82 S.Ct. 691.
4. School District of Abington Township, Pa. v. Schempp
Apparently, Doremus, supra, was overruled sub-silentio by School District of Abington Township, Pa. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 83 S.Ct. 1560, 10 L.Ed.2d 844 (1963). Schempp was a taxpayer suit, brought in federal court, to enjoin the enforcement of a state Bible-reading statute. Chief Judge Biggs, writing for a three-judge court, held that the statute was violative of the First Amendment, that the school children had standing “similar to that of the minor plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education, 1954, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873 * * * ”, and that the parents had standing “as the natural guardians of their children, having an immediate and
*863direct interest in their spiritual and religious development * * *.” 177 F.Supp. 398 (E.D.Pa.1959).13 The Supreme Court affirmed the district court on the merits, but did not discuss the standing question at all.
5. Flast v. Cohen (Frothingham reconsidered)
Eventually, every discussion of standing must come to grips with Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968). Whether one wishes to read that case narrowly or expansively, it must still be recognized that the issue there was “whether the Froth-ingham barrier should be lowered when a taxpayer attacks a federal statute on the ground that it violates the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.” Id. at 85, 88 S.Ct. at 1944. The Court undertook to re-examine Frothingham because that opinion was unclear whether the standing requirement there announced was a matter of policy or constitutional doctrine. After analyzing the issue in terms of justicia-bility, the Supreme Court concluded that there was “no absolute bar in Article III to suits by federal taxpayers challenging allegedly unconstitutional federal taxing and spending programs.” Id. at 101, 88 S.Ct. at 1953. Thus, the constitutional basis for Frothingham, if it ever existed, was undermined.
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court did not go so far in Flast as to suggest that the concept of standing, based upon policy considerations, was no longer viable. Rather, the Court stated the issue, albeit in general terms, “whether there is a logical nexus between the status asserted and the claim sought to be adjudicated.” Id. at 102, 88 S.Ct. at 1953.14 Turning then to the case before it, a challenge to an appropriations measure, the Court set forth two rules governing its decision.
The first rule, or sub-test, is a part of the general standing requirement dealing with nexus, quoted above. In order to maintain a suit, a “taxpayer must establish a logical link between that status and the type of legislative enactment attacked.” Id. “Thus,” the Supreme Court explained, “a taxpayer will be a proper party to allege the unconstitutionality only of exercises of congressional power under the taxing and spending clause of Art. I, § 8, of the Constitution. It will not be sufficient to allege an incidental expenditure of tax funds in the administration of an essentially regulatory statute.” Id., (emphasis added).
The statement seems to make clear that taxpayer suits will be entertained only to enjoin expenditures under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, and that taxpayers as taxpayers will not have standing under any other circumstances.
The second part of the test set forth in Flast is that “the taxpayer must establish a nexus between that status and the precise nature of the constitutional infringement alleged.” Id. The Court explained:
“Under this requirement, the taxpayer must show that the challenged enactment exceeds specific constitutional limitations imposed upon the exercise of congressional taxing and spending power and not simply that the enactment is generally beyond the powers delegated to Congress by Art. I, § 8.” Id.
But, this sub-test is not too meaningful when applied to taxpayer suits not challenging appropriations, and therefore can properly apply only to suits seeking to enjoin the expenditure of appropriated moneys.
*864Thus, the general rule of taxpayer standing promulgated by Flast, as applied to eases not involving appropriations, if such a generalization is valid at all, is that in order to satisfy the requirement, a taxpayer must show: (1) the connection between his status and the enactment, and (2) the connection between his status and the right he alleged was infringed. In other words, does the enactment challenged affect the taxpayer as a taxpayer? And, if so, does it infringe upon a specific constitutional right possessed by that taxpayer as an individual?15
As might be expected, Flast received extensive coverage by the commentators. The Harvard Supreme Court Review concluded :
“[t]he Flast criteria provide a workable scheme for ascertaining when federal taxpayers should be permitted to sue even though not congressionally designated as proper parties to represent the public interest, but the criteria are not constitutionally compelled. The only constitutional requirement spelled out in Flast is that litigants seeking judicial review of congressional action, but not alleging an injury to a legally protected interest, must present some rationale distinguishing their personal interest from that of the general citizenry; any special injury rationale would seem to fulfill this requirement.” The Supreme Court, 1967 Term, 82 Harv.L. Rev. 63, 230 (1968).
Apparently, the author of the Harvard note analyzed Flast in Hohfeldian terms, i. e., the plaintiff must show that some right of his was violated and that he was injured thereby, although the approach of the majority opinion was not so cast.
Professor Jaffe did employ Hohfeldian theory16 in his analysis of Flast. He reasoned that courts, including the Supreme Court, have heard suits initiated by non-Hohfeldian plaintiffs- — those not seeking a determination that they possess a right, privilege, immunity or power — and that the requirement of a Hohfeldian plaintiff is no longer justifiable from a policy point of view. See, Jaffe, The Citizen as Litigant in Public Actions: The non-Hohfeldian Or Ideological Plaintiff, 116 U.Pa.L.Rev. 1033 (1968).
Professor Kenneth Culp Davis criticized the reasoning of Flast v. Cohen. Davis, Standing: Taxpayers and Others, 35 U.Chi.L.Rev. 601 (1968). First, he argued that although nonconstitutional issues were before the Supreme Court, it decided neither the merits nor the standing question in terms of those issues. But more fundamentally, he controverted the statement by Mr. Justice Harlan that:
“This Court has previously held that individual litigants have standing to represent the public interest, despite their lack of economic or other personal interests, if Congress has appropriately authorized such suits.” Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. at 131, 88 S.Ct. at 1969.
Rather, Professor Davis asserted:
“Even though the law of standing is so cluttered and confused that almost ev*865ery proposition has some exception, the federal courts have consistently adhered to one major proposition, without exception: One who has no interest of his own at stake always lacks standing." 35 U.Chi.L.Rev. at 617.16a
Professors Lockhart, Kamisar and Choper suggest that Flast and Frothing-ham are distinguishable because Mrs. Frothingham was, in reality, attempting to assert her state’s interest in maintaining its legislative prerogatives whereas Mrs. Flast was vindicating her personal constitutional right not to be taxed for the establishment or support of a religious institution. W. Lockhart, & Kam-isar & J. Choper, Constitutional Law 65-66 (1970). This distinction implies that Mrs. Frothingham’s right not to be taxed to support a federal program in derogation of a state’s police power was not a meaningful personal right. It is apparently derived from the three holdings of Frothingham and the companion case of Massachusetts v. Mellon:
(1) The state’s contention that the federal act in issue was an attempt to destroy its sovereignty was a non-justieiable political question because the state was under no compulsion to accept the benefits of the act;
(2) The state did not have parens patrie standing to assert the rights of a citizen against the United States because in a federal-state dispute, it is the United States and not any given state that stands in parens patrie with its citizens; and
(3) The increased burden of taxation is a public rather than a private concern, and thus a citizen would not suffer any direct personal injury from an increase in taxation.
Similarly, a citizen would suffer no direct personal injury if the federal government usurps the sovereignty of a state. On the other hand, a citizen apparently does suffer a sufficiently personal injury to confer standing when he is taxed to support a religious institution, since each citizen has a personal stake in ensuring that the Government not establish a religion.
Lockhart, Kamisar and Choper go on to suggest that the taxpayer standing limitation is a practical measure to prevent undue interference with sensitive federal appropriations, especially in the fields of defense and foreign aid, but that such a limitation is not appropriate in the domestic arena of the Establishment Clause. See W. Lockhart, Y. Kamisar & J. Choper, supra, at 68.
6. Cases after Flast (resurrection of the “case” or “controversy” Constitutional Consideration)
The Supreme Court’s next foray into the morass may be found in a pair of cases decided in 1970: Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184; Barlow v. Collins, 397 U.S. 159, 90 S.Ct. 832, 25 L.Ed.2d 192. These cases involved the issue of standing to review administrative regulations.17
*866Data Processing Service begins with the observations that: “Generalizations about standing to sue are largely worthless as such.” 397 U.S. at 151, 90 S.Ct. at 829. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court stated that one generalization was necessary: “the question of standing in the federal courts is to be considered in the framework of Article III * * Id. This holds true whether the suit is by a taxpayer, as in Flast, or by a competitor, as in Data Processing. Mr. Justice Douglas, quoting from Flast, noted that the Article III requirement is met when the suit is “presented in an adversary context.” He added that in a competitor’s suit, the “first question is whether the plaintiff alleges that the challenged action has caused him injury in fact, economic or otherwise.” Id. at 152, 90 S.Ct. at 829.18 Second, where a party challenges regulatory actions, he will have standing to sue if he is arguably within the zone of interests protected by the statute. Id. at 155-156, 90 S.Ct. 827. If these two tests are met, a plaintiff will have standing to seek judicial review of an administrative determination only if Congress has not specifically forbidden such review. Id. at 156-158, 90 S.Ct. 827. Barlow restated and reinforced these tests. 397 U.S. at 164-165, 90 S.Ct. 832.19
7. Sierra Club v. Morton (The Personal Stake Requirement)
In Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972), the Supreme Court considered whether a private organization had standing under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 702 (1970), to obtain judicial review of a decision of the United States Forest Service allowing development of part of a National Forest and National Game Refuge as a resort. Early in the opinion, the Supreme Court noted:
“Where the party does not rely on any specific statute authorizing invocation of the judicial process, the question of standing depends upon whether the party has alleged such a ‘personal’ stake in the outcome of the controversy, Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663, as to ensure ‘the dispute sought to be adjudicated will be presented in an adversary context and in a form historically viewed as capable of judicial resolution.’ Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 101, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 20 L.Ed.2d 947.” 405 U.S. at 732, 92 S.Ct. at 1364.
Justice Stewart, speaking for the majority, stated that Data Processing and Barlow held that standing existed under the A.P.A. where the plaintiffs “alleged that the challenged action had caused them ‘injury in fact,’ and where the alleged injury was to an interest ‘arguably within the zone of interests to be protected or regulated’ by the statutes that the agencies were claimed to have violated.” Id. at 733, 92 S.Ct. at 1365.
It is clear that the “injury in fact” need not be economic injury, yet it must be an injury suffered by the plaintiff and not the public at large. See id. at *867734, 92 S.Ct. 1365.20 Only after a party establishes his personal standing may he litigate issues affecting the public interest. Id. at 739, 92 S.Ct. 1368.
The policy reasons underpinning the Sierra Club holding, as expressed by the majority decision, indicate that the Supreme Court is not yet willing to allow “any individual citizen” to challenge executive or congressional action.
Mr. Justice Stewart went on to state:
“The requirement that a party seeking review must allege facts showing that he is himself adversely affected does not insulate executive action from judicial review, nor does it prevent any public interests from being protected through the judicial process. It does serve as at least a rough attempt to put the decision as to whether review will be sought in the hands of those who have a direct stake in the outcome.” Id. at 740, 92 S.Ct. at 1368. (Footnote omitted.)
Because of the importance of environmental quality, Mr. Justice Blackmun would make an exception to this requirement. Id. at 741, 92 S.Ct. 1369 (Dissenting opinion).
The above catalog of authorities does not exhaust the list of cases in which standing was an issue. For example, as long ago as 1900 the Supreme Court insisted that only parties with an interest in the land could maintain an action bottomed on title to the land. See Tyler v. Judges of the Court of Registration, 179 U.S. 405, 21 S.Ct. 206, 45 L.Ed. 252. Standing requirements were somewhat relaxed in Truax v. Raich, 239 U.S. 33, 36 S.Ct. 7, 60 L.Ed. 131 (1915), to allow an employee to assert his employer’s right to be free of an unconstitutional law restricting the employment of aliens. However, the plaintiff there was an alien employee, asserting rights under the Equal Protection Clause. In 1917, a Caucasian sued a Negro for specific performance of a real-estate contract; the Negro asserted a local ordinance restricting Negro residency; and the Caucasian was permitted to challenge the validity of the ordinance. Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60, 38 S.Ct. 16, 62 L.Ed. 149 (1917); accord, Barrows v. Jackson, 346 U.S. 249, 73 S.Ct. 1031, 97 L.Ed. 1586 (1953). And in Pierce v. Society of the Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 45 S.Ct. 571, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1925), private and parochial schools were allowed to argue that a state statute violated the rights of parents and guardians because the plaintiff schools themselves had property rights directly affected by the statute.
In Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U.S. 288, 56 S.Ct. 466, 80 L.Ed. 688 (1936), a preferred stockholder of a private power company sued to prevent the company from entering into a contract with the TVA on the ground that the TVA was unconstitutional. Although the Supreme Court reached the merits of the case, Justice Brandéis, joined by Justices Stone, Roberts and Cardozo dissented on the ground Ashwander did not have standing since he had not demonstrated that either he or his company would sustain loss because of the contract. And three years later, in a similar situation, a majority of the Supreme Court held that the plaintiff did not have standing to attack the constitutionality of the TVA because it suffered no loss that could be remedied since it did not have a right to be free of competition. Tennessee Electric Power Co. v. TVA, 306 U.S. 118, 59 S.Ct. 366, 83 L.Ed. 543 (1939).21
*868This past term, the Supreme Court, in Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. 1, 92 S.Ct. 2318, 33 L.Ed.2d 154, 1972, in deciding not to entertain the complaint of a citizen regarding claimed surveillance by Army authorities, stated:
“The decisions in these cases fully recognize that governmental action may be subject to constitutional challenge even though it has only an indirect effect on the exercise of First Amendment rights. At the same time, however, these decisions have in no way eroded the ‘established principle that to entitle a private individual to invoke the judicial power to determine the validity of executive or legislative action he must show that he has sustained, or is immediately in danger of sustaining, a direct injury as the result of that action . . .’ Ex parte Levitt, 302 U.S. 633, 634, 58 S.Ct. 1, 82 L.Ed. 493 (1937).” 408 U.S. at 13, 92 S.Ct. at 2325.
III. LOWER COURT CASES ON STANDING
There are some recent court of appeals and district court decisions which, although not binding upon us, shed some light on the problem. In Velvel v. Nixon, 415 F.2d 236 (10th Cir. 1969), a taxpayer-citizen sued for a declaration that the Vietnam War was unconstitutional and for an order enjoining further American involvement in Vietnam. The district court dismissed the action and the court of appeals affirmed, holding that the plaintiff had not demonstrated the requisite personal stake in the outcome. The crux of the decision was that Flast was inapplicable because the plaintiff was not challenging a congressional expenditure under Article I, Section 8, and that even if Flast were applicable, no specific constitutional limitation had been violated.
In Richardson v. Kennedy, 313 F.Supp. 1282 (W.D.Pa.1970) (three-judge court), aff’d, 401 U.S. 901, 91 S.Ct. 868, 27 L.Ed.2d 800 (1971), plaintiff challenged as unconstitutional the Congressional pay raise effected by the Postal Revenue and Federal Salary Act of 1967, 2 U.S.C. §§ 351-361 (1970). The Court dismissed the complaint on three grounds. First, the appropriation sought to be enjoined did not arise as in Flast under Article I, Section 8, but rather Article I, Section 6. Second, Article I, Section 6 “will not qualify as a Constitutional provision restricting the taxing and spending power * * 313 F.Supp. at 1286. Third, the plaintiff did not “possess the necessary personal stake in the outcome of this controversy and therefore lacks standing to maintain this action.” Id. (footnoteomitted).
Reservists Committee to Stop War v. Laird, 323 F.Supp. 833 (D.D.C.1971), reached an opposite result.22 The plaintiffs, the Committee and individual reservists, sought an injunction ordering the executive to “take steps that will eliminate any office inconsistent with the constitutional mandate” of Article I, Section 6, clause 2, forbidding “Members of either House” from holding “any civil Office under the Authority of the United States.” Specifically, it was alleged that 117 Senators and Representatives held commissions in the various military reserves, contrary to the Constitution. The court held that plaintiffs lacked standing as reservists, since they were unable to prove any direct injury, and as taxpayers, since they were not suing to enforce a limitation on the taxing and spending power of Congress. Nevertheless, Judge Gesell found that plaintiffs did have standing to sue as citizens for several reasons: (1) the Constitution was addressed “to the potential for undue influence rather than to its realization,” 323 F.Supp. at 840; (2) the Constitutional clause sought to be enforced was a “precise self-operative provision,” id.; (3) the Constitution intended to protect the interest shared by all citizens in maintaining independence among the branches of government, id. at 341; and (4) the adverse interests of the parties left no doubt as to the ex*869istence of a “case or controversy,” id. Also important to the court was that if these plaintiffs could not obtain judicial review, “then as a practical matter no one can.” Id.23
The standing of a citizen to attack the constitutionality of the Vietnam War was found to exist in another recent case. Atlee v. Laird, 339 F.Supp. 1347 (E.D.Pa.1972). In Atlee the district court found that standing under the specific test of Flast was precluded because the warmaking clause was not a “specific limitation on the manner in which Congress could make expenditures.” However, the court did find standing under the more general tests of Flast, Data Processing Service, and Barlow in that the plaintiffs had alleged personal economic injury resulting from the inflation and recession caused by war spending. The court also found standing because of the non-eeonomic aspects of the war, viz., the toll of human life, the threat to the personal safety and security of all the citizens, and the diversion of available funds from domestic needs to the war effort.24
IV. ANALYSIS OF DECISIONS
The principles to be distilled from all the many cases dealing with standing do not lead to the formulation of an easy set of guidelines by which standing may be determined, and indeed, Mr. Justice Douglas’ comment in Data Processing Service, quoted supra, 397 U.S. at 151, 90 S.Ct. 829, is particularly apt. The problem is compounded, not only by the various contexts in which the cases arose, but by their inconsistency with regard to their theoretical basis.25 Nevertheless, some helpful guidelines do emerge from the mass of decisions.
The threshold rule in determining standing to litigate is that the party raising the issue must have been personally and directly injured or threatened with immediate injury by a violation of a statutory or constitutional right designed to protect that party. See, e. g., Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. 1, 92 S.Ct. 2318, 33 L.Ed.2d 154 (1972); Sierra Club v. Morton, supra; Association of Data Processing Service Organizations v. Camp, supra; Barlow v. Camp, supra.
This element, however, is subject to certain exceptions or limitations. Thus, standing to litigate questions concerning the Establishment Clause might be found in the absence of direct injury.26 See e. g., School District of Abington Township, Pa. v. Schempp, supra; McGowan v. Maryland, supra. And slight injury may suffice to meet the test where other constitutional rights of paramount importance are at stake. See Baker v. Carr, supra; Sierra Club v. Morton, supra (Blackmun, J., dissenting); cf., Flast v. Cohen, supra.
Another factor which becomes apparent is that standing requirements may be eased where the party asserting the constitutional right is a defendant in a criminal or civil action. See Griswold v. Connecticut, supra; NAACP v. Alabama, supra. The rationale for this approach appears to be three-fold; first, a defendant has been injured or threaten*870ed with injury because of the impact of the proceedings against him; second, a defendant is involuntarily in court, and thus the policy of discouraging litigation will not be furthered by preventing him from asserting the right; and third, for a court to convict or impose liability by virtue of an unconstitutional statute or action would be affirmatively to commit an unconstitutional act.
Next, suits designed to interfere with the orderly operation of the Government, particularly with regard to taxation and appropriations, will not be entertained except in narrowly-defined circumstances. See Flast v. Cohen, supra; Frothingham v. Mellon, supra; W. Lockhart, Y. Kamisar & J. Choper 68, supra.
Closely related to this principle is the admonition that a citizen who suffers equally with all other citizens will not be heard to raise generalized grievances about the conduct of the Government. See Sierra Club v. Morton, supra; Flast v. Cohen, supra; Baker v. Carr, supra; Ex parte Levitt, supra; Frothingham v. Mellon, supra; Fairchild v. Hughes, supra.
One district court found an exception to this precept where the constitutional provision asserted was addressed to the potential for abuse, and the provision was precise and self-operative. Reservists Committee to Stop War v. Laird, supra.
Finally, an important although not determinative factor in deciding whether standing exists is the availability of other modes of judicial review. See NAACP v. Alabama, supra; Barrows v. Jackson, supra; Pierce v. Society of the Sisters, supra; Buchanan v. Warley, supra; Truax v. Raich, supra. But see Colgrove v. Green, supra.
In the quest for standing in this litigation, another analysis of the major Supreme Court cases may be undertaken. If one accepts the limitations read into Flast v. Cohen by Justices Stewart and Fortas, then Frothingham v. Mellon represents an absolute bar to predicating standing on plaintiff’s status as a “taxpayer,” absent allegations of expenditures in violation of the Establishment Clause, notwithstanding the somewhat broader language employed by the Court in Flast.
Thus, our inquiry here may be narrowly focused upon cases where “citizen” standing was asserted. This search can be further circumscribed by eliminating from consideration as inapposite cases brought under the Administrative Procedure Act, where Congress has authorized or at least not forbidden suits,27 and eases in which standing was conferred upon defendants, where as noted above other factors apply.
By this process of elimination, there is left for consideration those cases dealing with the standing of “citizens” who have sued a Government official for the vindication of a constitutional right personal to such “citizen.” These cases fall into two categories. In some, the Supreme Court reached the merits despite the lack of a substantial, direct, tangible personal injury. In others, the standing barrier was breached only after the plaintiff demonstrated that he, personally, had actually been harmed in some regard.
Representative of the first group of cases are Baker v. Carr and School District of Abington Township, Pa. v. Schempp. In Baker v. Carr, the basis of standing was that the constitutional right asserted — the integrity of the electoral process — was considered of such paramount importance that the deprivation of the right by dilution of voting strength through unequal apportionment was deemed a sufficient injury to permit the merits to be adjudicated. Similarly, the consideration that led the Court in Schempp to by-pass the standing problem was the high value placed upon the *871rights encompassed by the Establishment Clause.
Cases representative of the second category — where plaintiff showed or failed to show harm in some regard — are Fair-child v. Hughes, Ex parte Levitt, Chicago v. Atchison, T. & S.F.R. Co., Laird v. Tatum, and Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis. In Fairchild the Court stated that a citizen had no standing to challenge the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment because he could not demonstrate any particular injury he would suffer that would not be shared equally by all citizens. Levitt held that a citizen did not have standing to challenge the appointment and confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice. And in Atchison, Parmelee was permitted to intervene because of the economic harm suffered by it. In Tatum, citizens attacking surveillance techniques employed by the Army were held not to have standing because there was no indication that their First Amendment rights were chilled by the Army’s practices. On the other hand, the Supreme Court permitted the parties to litigate at least some of the issues in Irvis because the plaintiff demonstrated personal impact or injury. Irvis is an exeellant example of this dichotomy. There, the Court held that the plaintiff did not have standing to litigate questions involving the membership qualifications of the Moose Lodge because he had not even attempted to become a member, but that he did have standing to raise the issues surrounding the Lodge’s guest policies since he was refused service while a guest.
Thus, through the use of this case-by-case evaluation, two criteria appear to be critical. Is the constitutional right asserted of such paramount importance so as to obviate the need to allege and prove direct, personal impact which is individualized as distinguished from an impact shared by every member of the body politic? If not, does the plaintiff allege a direct personal injury or impact caused by the violation of the asserted constitutional right?
V. APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES TO THE PRESENT CASE
In this case, actual application of the precepts deduced from the various Supreme Court cases parallels the analysis undertaken above, and the same two questions must still be resolved.
We begin with the proposition that Richardson is a plaintiff, not a defendant, and therefore cases conferring standing upon defendants are somewhat inapplicable. Because expenditures are attacked, Flast and Frothingham would appear to create a barrier, at least insofar as Richardson’s standing as a taxpayer is concerned. Third, the Administrative Procedure Act cases are not controlling because the challenged executive action is in full compliance with a Congressional enactment and there have been no administrative procedural irregularities pleaded. Finally, the plaintiff has not alleged that the Congressional and Executive action at issue has violated First Amendment rights or other rights previously assigned a position of paramount importance.
Accordingly, we are left with the questions of the relative importance of the asserted constitutional right and the nature of the injury suffered by the plaintiff.
1. Historical Background of Article I, Section 9, Clause 7.
The debates regarding Article I, Section 9, Clause 7, the provision relied upon by plaintiff here, that occurred during the Constitutional Convention, shed light on the relative importance of that stipulation. An authority on the debates, Max Farrand, indicates that the discussion began with a statement by George Mason that “he did not conceive that the receipts and expenditures of the public money ought ever to be concealed. The people, he affirmed, had a right to know the expenditures of their money.” 3 Farrand, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, at 326 (Rev. ed. 1966). James Madison disagreed only with Mason’s proposal of a fixed report*872ing period, stating that reports based on short periods:
“would not be so full and connected as would be necessary for a thorough comprehension of them and detection of any errors. But by giving them [the reporting officials] an opportunity of publishing them from time to time, as might be found easy and convenient, they would be more full and satisfactory to the public, and would be sufficiently frequent.” Id.
Rufus King objected to a full accounting on the ground that it would be “impracticable” to report “every minute shilling.” 2 Farrand 618.28
The argument that the duty to report the accounting runs to the public is based on a comparison of Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 with Article II, Section 3. The language of Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 mandates that “a regular Statement and Account * * * shall be published * * * whereas Article II, Section 3 requires that the President “shall from time to time give to the Congress- information of the State of the Union * * ”. Thus, the impact of the distinction between “shall be published” and “shall from time to time give to the Congress” becomes apparent. Furthermore, the Articles of Confederation, drafted by many of the same persons as the Constitution, required only that Congress inform the states of its indebtedness, as opposed to the requirement of publication of the receipt and expenditures of all public money. Compare U.S.Const. Art. I, § 9, cl. 7 with Articles of Confederation, Art. IX, ¶ 5 (requiring Congress to account to the states for “sums of money * * * borrowed or emitted”).
2. Evaluation of Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 with respect to other constitutional provisions.
Nevertheless, without denigrating the importance of Article I, Section 9, Clause 7, it would appear fair to conclude that it does not rise to the paramount stature of other constitutional provisions, such as those contained in the Bill of Rights. History records that many of the early colonists came to the New World to avoid the inhibitions upon personal religious freedom which attend the establishment of a state church. Indeed, there is some doubt whether the Constitution would have been ratified at all without the promises of the draftsmen that it would be soon amended to provide for certain basic rights. It is no coincidence that the first clause of the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a national religion.
The right of a citizen to have his vote count equally with those of other citizens is also basic to our system of Government. The “one-man-one-vote” principle is the very embodiment of the concept of a participatory democracy in which each citizen is considered the equal of every other.
Accordingly, the constitutional right presently asserted by the plaintiff would not appear to be, at least in the context of this case and at this point in the development of our history, of such preeminent importance that the traditional requirements of standing should be waived.
3. The nature of the injury.
Since the right asserted would appear to be not a paramount one, it is necessary to determine whether plaintiff has suffered a personal injury sufficient to enable him to litigate the underlying issue. Although the debates in the Constitutional Convention might suggest that the right conferred by Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 runs to each citizen individually, they also demonstrate that the Clause imposes a duty to report to the public generally. Because Richardson did not and could not allege that either he alone or some identifiable class of citizens has suffered an injury not *873suffered by everyone else, the conclusion would appear to follow that “he has merely a general interest common to all members of the public,”29 and therefore is not endowed with standing to litigate this matter.
I recognize that if the view expressed herein were to be adopted by the majority, it would be difficult to perceive how a citizen would be able to litigate the constitutional provision asserted by Richardson. Nevertheless, the cumulative effect of the many cases denying standing in the face of this objection is persuasive authority that this consideration is not sufficient by itself, within the contours of this suit, to confer standing upon plaintiff.30 See, e. g., Frothingham v. Mellon, supra; Fairchild v. Hughes, supra; Ex parte Levitt, supra; Coleman v. Miller, supra (Frankfurter, J., concurring).
Indeed, to create a deviation on this basis would risk impairment of a vital rule by the disintegrating erosion of particular exceptions.
VI. CONCLUSION
In recent years, the Supreme Court has had several opportunities to expand the concept of standing, but has declined to do so. I have serious reservations whether we ought to take this step in the absence of Congressional authorization or in the absence of some significant development in our national life clearly indicating the necessity for such movement.
The Constitution has been likened to a device designed “to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs.” McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat, 316, 415, 4 L.Ed. 579 (1819). Constitutional litigation is the vehicle by which the Constitution can be interpreted, when necessary, to insure that the practice of government comports with the ideals of the governed. The system works best and provides a solid basis for future adjustments when changes are brought about slowly in response to real need for the change.
The rule of self-restraint did not develop suddenly, and it is not a manifestation of the timorousness of judges. Rather, it reflects an approach to constitutional litigation designed to avoid division among the three branches of Government in their task of social problem-solving. Before the Constitution was adopted, Alexander Hamilton, in the 78th Federalist, recognized that the judiciary was the one branch without power to enforce its will on the other branches, and that it “must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.” The most respected jurists throughout our history have realized that rash decision-making by the courts could lead to the disregard of the judiciary as a decision-maker.
From Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803), to O’Brien v. Brown, 409 U.S. 1, 92 S.Ct. 2718, 34 L.Ed.2d 1 (1972), major constitutional crises threatening important government concepts have been averted by the application of discreet judicial techniques of self-restraint. When courts exercise forbearance, they act, to use the parlance of our electronic age, as filter circuits, dampening and smoothing political oscillations, rather than as amplifiers, magnifying them out of proportion. It is this smoothing process that has enabled us, in the long run, to maintain our democratic ideals in a troubled world.
*874But to allow the tool of constitutional litigation to be employed at the behest of every disgruntled citizen would dull its working edge and weaken its effectiveness. It is for this reason that the Supreme Court has adopted a rule of “self-restraint,” and it is for this reason that we should not be quick to abandon that precept.
Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of the district court dismissing this action.
Judges ALDISERT and HUNTER join in this opinion.

. In view of the position we take here, it is not necessary to discuss the political question issue which so often lurks in the background of suits of this nature.

. See Adler v. Board of Educ., 342 U.S. 485, 72 S.Ct. 380, 96 L.Ed. 517 (1952) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting); Coleman v. Hiller, 307 U.S. 433, 460-465, 59 S.Ct. 972, 985, 83 L.Ed. 1385 (1939) (Frankfurter, J., concurring).

. See also, Socialist Labor Party v. Gilligan, 406 U.S. 583, 92 S.Ct. 1716, 32 L.Ed.2d 317 (1972).

. It is pertinent that the Supreme Court denied to leave to file the motion on the ground that the movant did not have standing rather than on the basis that it lacked original jurisdiction to entertain the petition.

. In Poe v. Ullman, 367 U.S. 497, 81 S.Ct. 1752, 6 L.Ed.2d 989 (1961), patients and a doctor botli asserted that the state statutes were unconstitutional. The Supreme Court refused to decide the case, on the ground of lack of a justiciable controversy, because the complaints did not allege a threat of prosecution, because the state had initiated only one such prosecution in 82 years (to test the constitutionality of the statute), and because the doctor’s constraint in not providing contraceptive devices was not reasonably related to a fear of prosecution. The issue of standing was not discussed in the main opinion.

. But see Barrows v. Jackson, supra.

. The members of the NAACP would have liad standing in their own behalf because disclosure of the membership list would have had a direct impact on each member. The Court also noted that the Association had standing in its own right because of the injury it would suffer as a result of the action being taken against it by the state. See also NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415, 83 S.Ct. 328, 9 L.Ed.2d 405 (1963).

. Because there were no allegations that the statutes infringed upon the beliefs of the store’s patrons, the court did not decide if standing existed under Pierce v. Society of the Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 535-536, 45 S.Ct. 571, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1925). But the Court did point out that such persons were not without effective ways to assert their rights, citing NAACP v. Alabama, supra; Barrows v. Jackson, supra, thus implying that they would have standing in an appropriate case.

. See also, Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965). There, the Supreme Court distinguished Tileston v. Ullman, supra, on the ground that the doctor in Griswold was a defendant as opposed to a plaintiff, as in Tileston. The Court stated: “Certainly the accessory should have standing to assert that the offense which he is charged with assisting is not, or cannot constitutionally be a crime.” 381 U.S. at 481, 85 S.Ct. at 1680.

. Colegrove was not a standing case, as such. The decision turned on the judgment that reapportionment of Congressional Districts was a political question. 328 U.S. at 552, 556, 66 S.Ct. 1198.

. Fairchild v. Hughes, 258 U.S. 126, 42 S.Ct. 274, 66 L.Ed. 499 (1921), was a citizen-taxpayer suit in equity for a declaration that the Nineteenth Amendment was improperly ratified by the states, that a law enforcing the amendment, then pending in Congress, was unconstitutional; for an injunction prohibiting the Secretary of State from issuing a proclamation of adoption of the amendment; and for an injunction forbidding the Attorney General from enforcing the proposed act. The Supreme Court denied plaintiff standing because any wrongful acts of the named officials would be directed against election officers, not citizens, and that in any event, the plaintiff was a citizen of a state which had already amended its own constitution to permit women to vote and had ratified the amendment.

. See Neal, Baker v. Carr; Politics in Search of Law, the Supreme Court Review, the University of Chicago Law School, 252, 274 (1962).

. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, and the matter was remanded to consider the effect of an amendment to the statute, 364 U.S. 298, 81 S.Ct. 268, 5 L.Ed.2d 89 (1960). On remand, the district court adopted the position it previously assumed with regard to standing. 201 F.Supp. 815, 818 (E.D.Pa.1962).

. The Supreme Court used as a paradigm the dichotomy formulated in its opinion in McGowan v. Maryland, supra.

. Mr. Justice Stewart, concurring in Flast, stated that he understood the case “to hold only that a federal taxpayer has standing to assert that a specific expenditure of federal funds violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. * * *” 392 U.S. at 114, 88 S.Ct. at 1960. He considered that the Court otherwise reaffirmed the holding of Frothingham. Mr. Justice Fortas, also concurring, asserted: “The status of taxpayer should not be accepted as a launching pad for an attack upon any target other than legislation affecting the Establishment Clause.” 392 U.S. at 116, 88 S.Ct. at 1961.

. See Hohfeld, Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning, 23 Yale L.J. 16 (1913).
Jaffe’s article was written while the Flast case was pending in the Supreme Court. But Jaffe’s analysis was not adopted by the majority decision in Flast, and it might be contended that the Court impliedly rejected it. See dissenting opinion of Justice Harlan, 392 U.S. at 119, 88 S.Ct. 1942.

. The unsatisfactory aspect of the federal law of standing is, according to Professor Davis, its inconsistency. However, the observation is put forth that:
“The law of standing need not be either a ‘complicated specialty of federal jurisdiction,’ as the Supreme Court has called it, or a mass of confused logic-chopping about bewildering technicality. It can be much simpler and much clearer than it is. All that is necessary is to make some firm policy choices and then to apply them consistently.” Id. at 628 (footnotes omitted).
Professor Davis then states a series of propositions, some affirmative and some negative, to govern the decision whether to grant standing in a particular case. The net effect of Professor Davis’ propositions would be to ease the standing requirement necessary to attack legislative enactments.
Raoul Berger also criticized Flast, but from an historical basis. He examined the state of the law at the time the Constitution was adopted and concluded that our founding fathers may have contemplated that all citizens would have standing, in the constitutional sense, to attack congressional usurpations. See, Berger, supra, at 829-301.

. These are not the first cases on the subject, but rather, represent the current cul*866mination of the law of standing in the administrative law field as it has evolved over an extesnive period. See, e. g., Hardin v. Kentucky Utilities Co., 890 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 651, 19 L.Ed.2d 787 (1967); FCC v. Sanders Bros. Radio Station, 309 U.S. 470, 642, 60 S.Ct. 693, 84 L.Ed. 869 (1940); Tennessee Power Co. v. TVA, 306 U.S. 118, 59 S.Ct. 366, 83 L.Ed. 543 (1939). See also, Chicago v. Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co., supra.

. The Court recognized that injury to non-economic interests reflecting “ ‘aesthetic, conservational, and recreational’ * * * values” as well as a “spiritual stake in First Amendment values [may be] sufficient to give standing * * 397 U.S. at 154, 90 S.Ct. at 830, citing Scenic Hudson Preservation Conf. v. FPC, 354 F.2d 608, 616 (2d Cir. 1965); Office of Communication of United Church of Christ v. FCC, 123 U.S.App.D.C. 328, 359 F.2d 994, 1000-1006 (1966); School District of Abington Tp., Pa. v. Schempp, supra.

. See also, Investment Company Institute v. Camp, 401 U.S. 617, 91 S.Ct. 1091, 28 L.Ed.2d 367 (1971); Arnold Tours, Inc. v. Camp, 400 U.S. 45, 91 S.Ct. 158, 27 L.Ed.2d 179 (1970).

. The dismissal of the complaint was affirmed because the Sierra Club had failed to allege that either it or its members would be directly affected by the change in use to which the land would be subject.

. Professor Bickel advances the rationalization that if a plaintiff suffers no injury either to a material right or one created by the law or the Constitution, then for a court to reach the merits of the controversy would be for it to render an advisory opinion. He concludes that this would be especially true in a taxpayer suit where the statute in question has no particular impact on the taxpayer. A. Bickel, The Least Dangerous Branch 121 (1962).

. The order of the district court is presently pending appeal.

. It is not without some significance that the district judge declined to grant injunctive relief and granted only a declaratory judgment. To our knowledge, the declaratory relief has never been implemented, which raises one of the problems that confronts a court in this type of a case.

. Although Chief Judge Joseph Lord did not analyze the various cases involving suits by citizens attacking allegedly unconstitutional action, he did indicate that Atlee was alleging personal economic injury.

. Of course it must be recognized that the doctrine of standing is properly a device by which courts avoid constitutional litigation when they deem it unnecessary or inappropriate to decide the underlying question. Thus, the inconsistencies can be explained in part by the fact that each standing decision is colored by unstated and perhaps undefinable premises.

. The personal injury requirement is also relaxed in most cases involving free speech or expression. See Note The Void for Vagueness Doctrine in the Supreme Court, 109 U.Pa.L.Rev. 67, 102-103 (1960).

. Although Richardson claimed entitlement to relief under the A.P.A., this claim is without merit, since the Act confers standing only upon persons “aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute * * 5 U.S.C. § 702.

. The importance of the accounting is emphasized when article I, Section 9, Clause 7, requiring disclosure of all receipts and expenditures, is compared with Article I, Section 5, Clause 3, which allows each House of Congress to except from publication in its journal “such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy.”

. Ex parte Levitt, supra.

. The impact of this impediment is substantially blunted when it is considered that there are a number of constitutional provisions that cannot be litigated for other reasons. For example, the duty of a state to extradite a prisoner cannot be judicially enforced, Kentucky v. Dennison, 24 How. 66, 16 L.Ed. 717; the duty to ensure that laws are faithfully executed may not be judicially compelled, Mississippi v. Johnson, 4 Wall. 475; and violations of the guaranty of a republican form of government in the states is not assailable in the courts, Pacific States Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Oregon, 223 U.S. 118, 32 S.Ct. 224, 56 L.Ed. 377.