A Supreme Court decision Friday about a class-action lawsuit against credit reporting agency TransUnion limits Congress’s power to determine who can file a federal lawsuit — by shifting more of that decision to the judicial branch.
The case centers on the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, which created a way for consumers to file a lawsuit to recover damages for certain violations of law, in part to protect consumer privacy. The majority ruled, in a sharply divided 5-4 opinion, that some of the plaintiffs did not have the right to file the lawsuit.
In doing so, the majority delves into separation-of-powers issues between the three branches of government. And the court concludes that Congress can give people the right to file a lawsuit over violations of law, but ultimately the federal courts have the power to say whether those people can file those lawsuits.
“Congress may enact legal prohibitions and obligations. And Congress may create causes of action for plaintiffs to sue defendants who violate those legal prohibitions or obligations,” Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote. “But under Article III, an injury in law is not an injury in fact. Only those plaintiffs who have been concretely harmed by a defendant’s statutory violation may sue that private defendant over that violation in federal court.”
To illustrate the point, Kavanaugh used an example of a factory that pollutes land in Maine. Nearby Maine residents could file a federal lawsuit alleging the Maine company violated environmental laws. But Hawaii residents could not file such a lawsuit, because they had not suffered any physical, monetary or other harm traditionally recognized as providing a basis for a lawsuit in American courts, Kavanaugh wrote.
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June 26, 2021 at 01:29AM
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Supreme Court reshapes Congress' power to allow lawsuits - Roll Call
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