Article 3, Section 2, Clause 1 — Overview Of Standing

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Article III, Section 2, Clause 1:

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 shall 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.

The concept of “standing” broadly refers to a litigant’s right to have a court rule upon the merits of particular claims for which he seeks judicial relief.[1](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn1art3 " Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498 (1975) ( “In essence the question of standing is whether the litigant is entitled to have the court decide the merits of the dispute or of particular issues.” ); Black’s Law Dictionary 1536 (9th ed. 2009) (defining “standing” as “a party’s right to make a legal claim or seek judicial enforcement of a duty or right” ). ") The Supreme Court has held that, as a threshold procedural matter,[2](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn2art3 " Federal courts must necessarily resolve standing inquiries before proceeding to the merits of a lawsuit. See, e.g., Davis v. FEC, 554 U.S. 724, 732 (2008). In fact, a court may raise the issue of standing sua sponte (i.e., of its own accord) in order to ensure that it has jurisdiction, even if no party to the lawsuit contests standing. See, e.g., Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Mineta, 534 U.S. 103, 110 (2001) (per curiam). Although the Supreme Court must examine a litigant’s standing when the lower court has erroneously assumed that standing exists, it will not investigate standing sua sponte in order to rule upon an issue that a lower court denied the litigant standing to bring before the court. Id. ") a litigant must have standing in order to invoke the jurisdiction of a federal court so that the court may exercise its “remedial powers on his behalf.” [3](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn3art3 " Simon v. E. Ky. Welfare Rts. Org., 426 U.S. 26, 38 (1976) (quoting Warth, 422 U.S. at 498–99). See also Davis, 554 U.S. at 732; Simon, 426 U.S. at 37 ( “No principle is more fundamental to the judiciary’s proper role in our system of government than the constitutional limitation of federal-court jurisdiction to actual cases or controversies. The concept of standing is part of this limitation.” ) (citation omitted); Warth, 422 U.S. at 498–99 ( “In its constitutional dimension, standing imports justiciability: whether the plaintiff has made out a ‘case or controversy’ between himself and the defendant within the meaning of Art. III.” ). The Court has occasionally invoked the English common law tradition as supporting its inquiry into a litigant’s standing. See, e.g., Ariz. Christian Sch. Tuition Org. v. Winn, 563 U.S. 125, 132 (2011) ( “In the English legal tradition, the need to redress an injury resulting from a specific dispute taught the efficacy of judicial resolution and gave legitimacy to judicial decrees. . . . The Framers paid heed to these lessons.” ). ") In general, for a party to establish Article III standing, he must allege (and ultimately prove) that he has a genuine stake in the outcome of the case because he has personally suffered (or will imminently suffer): (1) a concrete and particularized injury; (2) that is traceable to the allegedly unlawful actions of the opposing party; and (3) that is redressable by a favorable judicial decision.[4](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn4art3 " Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560–61 (1992) (listing the elements of standing). For further discussion on the elements of Article III standing, see . ") These requirements seek to ensure that federal courts do not exceed their Article III power to decide actual “cases” or “controversies.” [5](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn5art3 " Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 102 (1998) ( “Article III, § 2, of the Constitution extends the ‘judicial Power’ of the United States only to ‘Cases’ and ‘Controversies.’ We have always taken this to mean cases and controversies of the sort traditionally amenable to and resolved by the judicial process.” ). ")

The Court has held that the burden of establishing standing falls upon each party who seeks a distinct form of judicial relief,[6](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn6art3 " The Supreme Court has indicated that if one party to a lawsuit has standing, other entities can join as parties without having to satisfy independently the demands of Article III, provided those parties do not seek a distinct form of relief from the party with standing. E.g., Horne v. Flores, 557 U.S. 433, 446 (2009) (determining that, because a school superintendent had standing to challenge lower court decisions in which he was named a defendant, the Court did not need to consider whether interveners, who were state legislators, had standing); Davis, 554 U.S. at 724 (requiring a litigant to have standing for each form of relief sought); Rumsfeld v. Forum for Acad. & Instit. Rts., Inc., 547 U.S. 47, 52 n.2 (2006) ( “[T]he presence of one party with standing is sufficient to satisfy Article III’s case-or-controversy requirement.” ); Director v. Perini N. River Assocs., 459 U.S. 297, 305 (1983) (stating that a justiciable controversy existed because an injured employee who sought coverage under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act was a party respondent before the court and had standing, and thus there was no need to determine whether the Director of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, as the official responsible for administration and enforcement of the Act, had standing). ") including a party initiating a lawsuit,[7](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn7art3 " FW/PBS Inc. v. Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 231 (1990) ( “[P]etitioners in this case must allege . . . facts essential to show jurisdiction. If they fail to make the necessary allegations, they have no standing.” ) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). ") intervening in a lawsuit,[8](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn8art3 " A party seeking to intervene in a lawsuit (i.e., seeking to join a lawsuit already in progress) as a matter of right must have Article III standing to seek judicial relief that differs from that sought by the other litigants with standing. Town of Chester v. Laroe Estates, Inc., No. 16-605, slip op. at 6 (U.S. June 5, 2017); Wittman v. Personhuballah, 578 U.S. 539, 543 (2016). ") or appealing a lower court decision.[9](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn9art3 " Diamond v. Charles, 476 U.S. 54, 56 (1986).

The Supreme Court also addressed standing on appeal in a 2011 case in which government employees that had obtained a favorable judgment on the basis of qualified immunity sought to appeal a lower court’s ruling that their conduct had violated the Constitution. The Court held that these officials had Article III standing because they had a personal stake in seeing the ruling overturned, as its mere existence could lead to the risk of future liability for them. Camreta v. Greene, 563 U.S. 692, 703 (2011) ( “If the official regularly engages in that conduct as part of his job . . . he suffers injury caused by the adverse constitutional ruling. So long as it continues in effect, he must either change the way he performs his duties or risk a meritorious damages action.” ).

Standing on appeal may also be based on an alleged injury arising from the decision below—for example, where the lower court had ordered the appealing party to comply with a government demand that would injure that party, and overturning the lower court’s decision would redress the injury by absolving the appealing party of an obligation to comply with the demand. See Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau, No. 19-7 slip op. at 9 (U.S. June 29, 2020) (stating that a petitioner had “appellate standing” where the petitioner suffered a “concrete injury” that was “traceable to the decision below” and could be redressed by the Court). See also West Virginia v. Env’t Prot. Agency, No. 20-1530, slip op. at 14 (U.S. June 30, 2022).

") Each of these parties must make an appropriate showing during each stage of the litigation[10](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn10art3 " Hollingsworth v. Perry, 570 U.S. 693 (2013); Davis, 554 U.S. at 734 ( “[A] plaintiff must demonstrate standing for each claim he seeks to press and for each form of relief sought. . . . While the proof to establish standing increases as the suit proceeds, the standing inquiry remains focused on whether the party invoking jurisdiction had the requisite stake in the outcome when the suit was filed.” ) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). See also Nat’l Org. for Women v. Scheidler, 510 U.S. 249, 255–56 (1994) (observing that, at the pleading stage, the plaintiff may have standing sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss if he sets forth “general factual allegations of injury resulting from the defendant’s conduct” ) (citation omitted); Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561 (1992) (noting that the plaintiff’s burden of proof on the standing issue differs depending on whether the case is at the pleading stage, the plaintiff is responding to a motion for summary judgment, or the case has gone to trial). ") that the elements of injury, causation, and redressability existed at the outset of the lawsuit, and continue to exist,[11](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn11art3 " Davis, 554 U.S. at 732–33 ( “[I]t is not enough that the requisite interest exist at the outset. ‘To qualify as a case fit for federal-court adjudication, an actual controversy must be extant at all stages of review, not merely at the time complaint is filed.’” (quoting Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43, 67 (1997)). If an injury no longer exists as the litigation progresses, the court may also lack jurisdiction under the related doctrine of mootness. See to . ") for each claim[12](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-standing#fn12art3 " <s