Judicial power: justiciabiity Flashcards
Standing requirements: injury
Almost anything can be injury, whether past or future, so long as it is:
(1) Cognizable, e.g., if Congress deems it to be an injury;
(2) Concrete and particular, as opposed to abstract, although the injury need not be economic. For example, restrictions on freedom of movement or enjoyment of public space constitute injury.
By contrast, an organization has standing if its members have standing.
Standing requirements: redressability
The court must be able to remedy or redress the injury, whether future (with an injunction) or past (with damages).
Past injury does not give rise to standing for an injunction against future injury unless the plaintiff establishes that the injury will happen again.
Standing: organizations
An organization has standing if it has suffered an injury and:
i) its members would have standing to sue in their own right; and
ii) the interests at stake are germane to the organization’s purpose.
Standing: tax liability
Although federal taxpayers always have standing to challenge their own tax liability, they do not have standing to challenge government expenditures.
By contrast, state courts often allow municipal taxpayers to challenge a municipality’s expenditures.
Standing: legislators and legislatures
Legislators do not have standing to challenge laws that they opposed or voted against.
In limited circumstances, the legislative body itself may have standing if its claim concerns its institutional functions.
Standing: third parties
Generally, third parties may not raise the rights of someone else.
There is an exception for parties to an exchange or transaction, who can raise the rights of other parties to that exchange or transaction.
For example: Abortion providers may raise the rights of women who want to get abortions, as the provider is injured as a party to their exchange.
Timing: ripeness
A case can be dismissed on ripeness grounds—i.e., that it is premature—if a plaintiff fails to show actual harm or an immediate threat of harm.
Timing: mootness
A case can be dismissed on mootness grounds—i.e., that the claim is overripe—as late as on appeal.
There is an exception for controversies “capable of repetition, yet evading review”: those with an internal time limit, e.g., pregnancies and abortion, that will always run before the controversy can be fully litigated.
Advisory opinions
Federal courts cannot issue advisory opinions. For example, they cannot rule on the constitutionality of proposed legislation.
Political questions
A question is nonjusticiable—inappropriate for judicial resolution—if it is:
(1) Committed to another branch of government for decision; or
(2) There are no manageable standards for adjudication.
For example, non-justiciable political questions include claims arising under the Guarantee Clause, concerning foreign affairs, or impeachment procedures.
Political questions: political gerrymandering
Political gerrymandering—drawing districts to establish a political advantage for one’s own party—can violate equal protection, even though it does not present a justiciable controversy.
The Court has found political gerrymandering non-justiciable because it has concluded that there are no judicially manageable standards for determining what is and is not acceptable with respect to drawing districts.
Standing: government expenditures and the Establishment Clause
Although taxpayers ordinarily lack standing to challenge governmental expenditures, they can under a narrow exception:
- If Congress authorizes funds for a specific use that violates the Establishment Clause, a taxpayer has standing to challenge the appropriation.
- By contrast, if the president is spending monies appropriated for general discretionary use, there is no standing to challenge the expenditure.
- And a taxpayer may not bring an Establishment Clause challenge based on a tax credit rather than an appropriation.
Standing: “chilling effect” on protected speech
In order to prevent a “chilling effect” on protected speech, even those who are validly regulated may challenge an overbroad government law or policy on behalf of those who are not.
Standing: assignee of the rights to a claim
An assignee may sue on the basis of the assignor’s injuries.
An assignee has standing under Article III to bring an assigned claim even if the claim is mature at the time of assignment and the assignment is made for collection only.
