What's Standing after Lujan? Of Citizen Suits, 'Injuries,' and Article III

Abstract

Who is entitled to sue the government? What kind of must they show? This essay explores the history and content of the law of It turns out that the modern requirement of an injury in fact does not fit with the original understanding of the constitution, and that it depends on very contemporary ideas, connected to the original attack on the regulatory state and the New Deal. It also raises quite deep conceptual problems. One of the principal goals of the essay is to resolve those problems and to suggest future directions for the law of standing.