Standing and Seating

The plaintiffs in a challenge to the FAA’s “watch list” were unable to bring claims about the effect of that list outside of the airport-security context. The Fifth Circuit reasoned that they lacked standing for such claims:

Although it is possible the Plaintiffs could be injured if their alleged placement on the Watchlist adversely affects them during a traffic stop, firearm purchase, or license application, they have not demonstrated that such injuries have occurred or are “certainly impending.” 

(citation omitted). The court rejected Plaintiffs’ capacious  argument that “once an agency’s power is called into question by a plaintiff who has suffered [an] Article III injury, courts consider the full range of the agency’s asserted power, even if the plaintiff has not been harmed by every aspect of the agency’s congressionally unauthorized actions.” Kovac v. Wray, No. 23-10284 (July 22, 2024).