Understanding Standing Under Article III – and the Chief Justice Stands Alone

Our colleague Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker Green has a new post on SCOTUS Today that will be of interest to our readers: Understanding Standing Under Article III – and the Chief Justice Stands Alone.

The following is an excerpt:

Articles in the popular press have noted that today's decision by a near-unanimous Supreme Court in the case of Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski represents a victory for several Christian students in their battle against a college's restrictive policies that prevented their on-campus religious evangelizing.

It is true enough that the now-former students' complaint against Georgia Gwinnett College began as a result of the college's imposition of rules that blocked the students' speaking about their faith and distributing religious tracts, but by the time the case was decided, the policies in question had been rescinded and the plaintiffs were no longer students at the college.

The plaintiffs had not sought compensatory damages, only nominal damages, and the operative question before the Court had little to do with the First Amendment and, instead, dealt fundamentally with the matter of standing: Could the former students continue their suit against the college and its former policies that prevented their speaking about their Christian faith where they sought only nominal damages?

Click here to read the full post and more on SCOTUS Today.