William J. Brennan, Jr.

“ The Court now says that although the Doremus case is good law for plaintiffs who lack standing but lost in the state court on the merits of their federal claim, it is not good law for such plaintiffs who prevailed on the merits of their federal question in the state courts. The fact that such a rule has a very one-sided application does not necessari y mean it is wrong, but it should at least require a very persuasive justification-a more persuasive one than the Court provides in its opinion. ”

“ The difficulty with this explanation is that petitioners-mineral lessees and defendants in the courts below-have always been able to show that a judgment adverse to their position would "injure" them in a very real sense. The defect in the statecourt proceedings, so far as Article III standing is concerned, was not that the proceedings did not threaten to injure petitioners, but that the operation and enforcement of the challenged statute did not injure plaintiffs-respondents. The subsequent proceedings in the state court have obviously not cured this defect. ”

“ Americans United for Separation of Church & State, supra; DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 U.S. 312, 94 S.Ct. 1704, 40 L.Ed.2d 164 (1974) ; Linda R.S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614, 93 S.Ct. 1146, 35 L.Ed.2d 536 (1973) . In each of these cases the parties were emphatically adverse to one another and vigorously contended with one another as to how the lawsuit should be decided. ”