Landmark Publications

Article III Standing Landmark Publications

THIS CASEBOOK contains a selection of U. S. Court of Appeals decisions that analyze, discuss and interpret the doctrine of Article III standing. Volume 2 of the casebook covers the Sixth through the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. * * * Article III of the Constitution limits the federal judicial power to the adjudication of "cases" and "controversies." U. S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1. For there to be a justiciable case or controversy, the party invoking the power of the court must have standing to sue. Hollingsworth v. Perry, 570 U. S. 693, 700, 133 S. Ct. 2652, 186 L. Ed.2d 768 (2013). To assert standing for injunctive relief, a plaintiff must show that it is under an actual or imminent threat of suffering a concrete and particularized injury-in-fact; that this injury is fairly traceable to the defendant's conduct; and that it is likely that a favorable judicial decision will prevent or redress the injury. Summers v. Earth Island Inst., 555 U. S. 488, 493, 129 S. Ct. 1142, 173 L. Ed.2d 1 (2009). Municipalities generally have standing to challenge laws that result (or immediately threaten to result) in substantial financial burdens and other concrete harms. See, e.g., Dep't of Commerce v. New York, ___ U. S. ___, 139 S. Ct. 2551, 2565, 204 L. Ed.2d 978 (2019) ("diminishment of political representation, loss of federal funds, degradation of census data, and diversion of resources" were sufficient to give states and municipalities standing to sue over the proposed inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 census); Gladstone, Realtors v. Vill. of Bellwood, 441 U. S. 91, 110-11, 99 S. Ct. 1601, 60 L. Ed.2d 66 (1979) (municipality had standing based on the effect of racial steering in housing on the municipality's tax base and social stability). Cook County, Illinois v. Wolf, 962 F. 3d 208 (7th Cir. 2020)