Supreme Court to Consider Whether Members of Congress Have Article III Standing to Sue Federal Agencies
Today the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Carnahan v. Maloney, which presents the question “whether individual Members of Congress have Article III standing to sue an executive agency to compel it to disclose information that the Members have requested under 5 U.S.C. 2954.” This case will likely produce an important ruling on the scope of Article III standing by members of Congress and (if I may dare a prediction) the ultimate decision will likely constrain the tendency of some members of Congress to litigate when they should legislate.
The case arises from a long-running effort of members of the House Committee on Government Operations to obtain information from the General Services Adminsitration about its management of the Old Post Office building which was leased to the Trump Old Post Office LLC for purposes of operating the Trump Hotel. Members of Congress feared, with some justification, that the terms of the least may have violated federal law given Donald Trump’s financial interest in the hotel.
5 U.S.C. § 2954 provides that seven members of the House Government Operations Committee can demand information from a federal agency, even if not a majority of the Committee. Citing this provision, several members of the Committee sought information about the lease. After the GSA refused to comply, the member of Congress filed suit.
In December 2020, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded that the members of Congress had standing to sue the GSA. Judge Millett wrote for the panel, joined by Judge Tatel concluding that the me
Article from Reason.com
