Law Students

Constitutional Law (Samuel) #1: Standing

By Samuel

In Samuel Berbano’s first of a series of podcasts on justiciability doctrines, we’ll analyze the question of standing as it relates to Federal Article III courts. These courts are bound to take only cases containing what legal commentators call a “case or controversy” requirement. This requirement exists to preserve the integrity of the adversarial system.

The first justiciability addressed is standing. Plaintiffs have standing when the court finds that there is (I) an legally-recognised harm to the plaintiff, (II) a reasonable causal connexion between the injury to the plaintiff and the complained-of conduct of the defendant, and (III) a likelihood that an affirmative ruling will vindicate the rights of the plaintiff.

Cases include issues of what constitutes a harm, when third parties suffer harm, questions of taxpayer standing, and a hypothetical about punching one’s younger brother in the face. No little brothers were harmed in the making of this podcast.

Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
Com. of Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447 (1923)
Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83 (1968)

Full post as published by Life of a Law Student on January 28, 2007 (boomark / email).